The greatest and most feared part of parenting…….when you get caught parenting little yous in the way you would have never been able to stand as a little you.
As I sit and watch my sneaky children be sneaky, I can’t help but remember all of the times I snuck around my parents. I. Must. Remain. Constant. Being sneaky means you’re smart. So I’m thankful my children are smart. I will prune the clandestine behaviors out. I will feed the clever, crafty side. My children will learn how to be leaders and will learn how to maneuver life without being dishonest. That is my main goal. My children will grow into helpful, thoughtful, kind adults. When someone says their name, honorable thoughts of them will follow. Until then, I will have to be a parent and not a friend and explain why we can’t give all of the stuffed animals hair cuts and hide the evidence under the bed. I will have to be a parent and not a friend when after telling my son to put up his clothes as a typical chore, I find ALL of his clothes hidden under a blanket in his closet. Several. Loads. Of. Clothes. I will have to stand firm when I have told my children several times to be nice to each other and they continue to be vindictive and come up with some of the most brilliant ways to get each other into trouble. Parents don’t have eyes in the back of their heads because they want to. Parents have eyes in the back of their heads because they HAVE to, for fear of their sanity. But we parents do it out of love. Every bit of our parenting, even the hard stuff, is through love.
“Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society.”
― Benjamin Franklin
Learning to live in this world through HOPE 