Parenting Ain't Easy

It's true.  There is very little about raising children that is easy.  Being a mother is the best blessing I could have ever received.  I enjoy watching my kids grow and learn.  I often wish it would slow down a little but but for the most part I love seeing my offspring develop into kind and productive contributions to society.  There are times however when I just want to throw the towel in on the whole gig.  It ain't easy!  It is not fun to be the bad guy.  To hand out rules or consequences and then actually follow through is probably my weakest area of parenting.  I'm a sucker and a pushover, no doubt about it.  Sometimes, though, putting your foot down is the only answer.  We all know that doing the right thing isn't always the easy thing; in fact it rarely is.  But that doesn't make it less right.  Some issues require a firm, heavy hand to drive home a message or help illustrate a life lesson.  Some issues are more a literal matter of life and death.  I can only speak for myself here, but if my child were diabetic, I'd force them to stop drinking soda and eating Tastycakes.  As much as I would sympathize with the torture that would ensue, I would know that forbidding the deadly vices was a matter of necessity.  There may be withdrawal symptoms.  There will definitely be fights and fits.  There will likely be threats.  But no matter how heavy it weighed on my heart, I would know that the sugar ban was not only the right thing, it was necessary.  I would know that in time, perhaps a few days, maybe a few weeks, my child would start to feel better about my ban.  They won't like the ban, they won't agree with the ban, but they will start to understand why it became necessary and, with maturity, they will come to appreciate the love that encouraged me to do the right thing.   I can't understand the parental logic of "there's nothing we can do about it.  The child knows the consequences and is willing to drink the soda so, nothing else we can do".  I call bullshit.  Stand up for your child.  That's why they have and need parents.  I am about to turn the big 4-0 in a few short weeks.  I hope that if I were about to make a monumental mistake, my parent would stop me.  Talk to me. Explain their point of view.  As an adult, if I decided to continue down the path, so be it.  But once a parent, always a parent.  There is no job that requires more dedication, conviction and backbone.  This parenting gig is not for the weak and faint of heart.  Just ask my chest pains.

My family at a Sweet Sixteen party photo booth, August 2015