This morning, Mom and Buried left for a ten-day business trip. For the next two weeks, it’s just me and my son.

Things are going to be a little different while she’s gone. For one thing, I’ll finally be able to catch up on “Mr. Robot”.

For another, NO COASTERS!

I’m not ashamed to admit my wife is better at many aspects of parenting than I am.

Don’t worry, fellow dad bloggers, men’s right activists, and equality-hounds everywhere; I’m not bashing guys or fathers. (I’m not even praising moms. This isn’t a competition!)

This has nothing to do with the fact that I am a man and my wife is a woman; it has everything to do with the fact that I am me and she is she and we excel at different things, including many of the various responsibilities of parenting. We each have different strengths and we play to them accordingly, which is how it should be. We’re supposed to shore up each other’s weaknesses. Parenting is a partnership, isn’t complementing each other what partnerships are all about?

Mom and Buried is better at some stuff, I am better at other stuff. We fill each other’s gaps (YOU’RE THE PERVERT!) and things work pretty well this way. Hopefully, together we cover all the bases, and Detective Munch gets everything he needs. This complementary arrangement is kind of the whole point of marriage, at least according to Mike Huckabee (“Even a crazy bigot is right twice a day,” I think is how the adage goes.)

The complementary arrangement is also the one thing that makes these next few weeks problematic. When things get skewed to far towards one parent’s influence, it can get messy. Especially if I’m that one parent and you take “messy” literally. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine, but while Mom and Buried is gone, scheduling and organization will suffer. There will be more yelling and not as much cleaning up. Dinner will be less well-rounded and there will be a lot more rough-housing. And there’s a decent chance he’ll learn how to properly pour a Guinness. I’m not sure any of these qualify as “better” or even as “parenting,” but whatever. When the cat’s away!

Parenting is hard, but it’s always a little easier when someone is around to help, especially when that someone has a skill-set that complements yours. If your skills don’t line-up? It’s no good for anyone. My mother actually offered to stay with me while my wife is gone. It was very nice of her, but we have different parenting philosophies, i.e., she’s a grandma, so her parenting philosophy is simply saying “yes” as quickly as possible. That’s not gonna happen. NOT ON MY WATCH. Plus, we’d never agree on Netflix.

Besides, Grandma needs to save her energy for when there’s a newborn around and the shit really hits the fan (note to self: baby-proof the fans). It’s okay though, Detective Munch and I will be fine for the next two weeks (if I say it one more time, it will come true!) At least by our standards.

Mom and Buried may have a different opinion. The parenting imbalance that occurs while she’s away may tear asunder things she’s spent months putting into place. Such as her grip on the “favorite parent” crown. Because this weekend, my son is going to get to see Return of the Jedi for the first time.

Yeah. We’ll be fine.