I love my kids, I just hate parenting
Parenting advice is tricky.
Getting it from strangers is seldom welcome, getting it from non-parents is never welcome, and getting it from me is a laugh riot!
Unsolicited parenting advice, of course, is almost always unwanted, and if that advice is also useless? Don’t bother.
Since September, my first-grader’s reading skills have exploded.
He went from being nervous about reading in front of the class to pointing out every word he sees to reading full books on his own – and being excited to do it. It’s been amazing to watch the growth over the course of the school year, and while I was never worried about him being behind in some imaginary race to another developmental milestone, it’s definitely gratifying.
I’m excited for the growth to continue and to be able to introduce him to some of the many books I loved when I was a little dude. Of course, as is the case with every new skill your children acquire, there are some drawbacks.
If you have kids and you haven’t gone gray yet, either stop lying or just give it time.
There are days I can practically feel my hair changing color as it’s happening. Which is usually when my 6-year-old is throwing a fit about having to go to bed/having to go to school/having to take a bath/having to eat dinner/having to do his homework/etc.
Going gray is a part of getting older, and a part of parenting, and I’m okay with it. I’m not vain. Besides, a little salt and pepper worked out great for George Clooney and I’m nothing if not exactly like George Clooney!
I didn’t exactly grow up bonding over video games with my dad.
For one thing, video games didn’t exist when my dad was a kid – they only barely existed when I was a kid! – and by the time my brothers and I were playing Coleco, he couldn’t have cared less. I seem to recall some initial fascination with the first Nintendo when it came out, but my father had neither the time nor the inclination to sit down and play Super Mario Bros or Metroid with us. So video games had never stuck out to me as an opportunity for quality parenting time.
Until now!
Hello again, Mom and Buried here! Remember me?
It’s been too long. I would have loved to have written sooner, but you know, I’ve been busy BUILDING A HUMAN IN MY UTERUS, luxuriating in the pleasures and joys of pregnancy and childbirth, and raising said human to be the adorable (and not-at-all-exhausting) toddler he is today.
And I think I got another kid too around here somewhere. And also a husband, the infamous Dad and Buried.
So let’s just say three – I’ve been busy raising THREE children. But I digress…