The Joy of … Parenting
Several years ago a friend who had older children witness me coming home from work one day where my daughter ran up and gave me a big hug … “Daddy’s home!”
My friend said “You’d better cherish these times, because they won’t last.”
Now I come home to…
- Hey, Dad.
- Can you get me a glass of water?
- Can you take me to the book store? I have a gift card.
- Can you get me a glass of milk?
- What’s for dinner?
- Can you fix my computer game? It’s not working.
- Tortellini. Now!
- Can you take me to Best Buy? I have a gift card.
- Mom said I can’t play until my homework’s done!
- Can you take me to the Dollar Store? or Target?
- I forgot my book at school.
- But it’s a new Disney Channel movie. Why can’t I stay up!?
I’m not saying it’s not all good… just different. Cherish the moments indeed. I’m anxiously awaiting the “you are the cause of all my troubles” phase.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Wait until you come home to a totally silent house. You may not believe it but that silence wears on you. Our guys still “technically” live at home but they are gone more than here. That’s why I’m so glad we took lotsa photos to remember those bad good ol’ days.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Kids are so much fun, aren’t they? For example, yesterday morning I asked my 14 year old son a question, something inoccuous, like “Have you brushed your teeth” and recieved the full eye rolling, exasperated response of “Mom!” A minute later I mentioned “Tay’s being rude” to my husband and he went to talk to him. The conversation: “Taylor, stop being rude to your mother.” “But she’s TALKING to me!”
Ugh.
So I miss the days when they were little, the hugs were frequent and the words were kind, but I’m sure I will also miss them being around the house once they are adults (and hopefully independent!)
April 17th, 2008 at 7:27 am
My mom and pops used to let me get away with that stuff too. Then, I left home and realized I didn’t even know how to cook a meal, reload my operating system, or what fabric softner was.
Don’t let your kids turn into me. Start gently, but firmly, telling them that if they need food or something fixed to learn how to do it for themselves.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:35 am
So how old are kids when they stop running up to you and screaming mommy’s home? I am sad just thinking about that!
Good tip to teach kids how to do things themselves. We are already working on that at age 4.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:00 am
I don’t know at what age it stopped. It just did. My kids are pretty good about cooking and quite enjoy it. As far as reloading an operating system, they’re probably a bit young for that, but they are becoming quite adept at computers and they all type quite well (no hunt and peck) at a fairly young age which will help them immensely as they get older.
The biggest battle/headache we face is in-fighting amongst them, but that’s nothing unique to our family.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:43 am
I think the infighting is healthy to a certain degree in that it helps with conflict resolution later in life. I’m an only child (no snarky comments please), and I had a difficult time confronting conflict for a long time.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I don’t know, Cory, my dad was an only child and he loves creating and confronting conflict. Of course, he is a shrink . . . .
To all those parents who feel they have lost that good feeling when their child comes running to them and says, “Daddy’s home!” - I think it comes full circle. After my teenage years and the college-asserting-my-freedom years, I started getting that same feeling I had as a child when I knew I was going to see my parents. I still get excited when they are coming to see me or vice versa. Of course, now I get that feeling because I wonder how much longer I am going to have my parents with me (Many, many years, I hope) and I am trying to enjoy every moment.
Or maybe I am just a dork.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Sibling rivarly is okay. But hurting one another is not. We never allowed them to take each’s others stuff. So we instituted a rule. If you took something from the other they got to take something of yours and keep it for a month. That stopped that problem quickly. As they got older we gave them each a week to run the house. Shopping, cooking, laundry, yard cleaning, house cleaning, animal care. As they grew older we made it a month. If we ran out of money before the end of the month everybody brown bagged it. Every child should know how to clean a whole house, do laundry for everyone. Take care of the outside, pay bills, answer correspondence. And in our house NO ONE ate or drank in the morning until the animals were fed and watered. Same thing went in the afternoon after school. Play outside until supper, then homework after supper. Gave them time to relax and refresh their minds. I have plenty of experience in this. Raised ten children.