I love my kids, I just hate parenting
My wife and I have an ongoing disagreement. (Well, we have several, one of which is about whether Moulin Rouge is a good movie (it is not), but this one is about parenting.)
She thinks I yell too much. And I know I said this was a disagreement, but I don’t deny that she’s right. I do yell too much, especially lately.
Instead of losing my temper, I need to actually lose my temper.
Parents get up in arms about all sorts of things.
It makes sense. Our kids are important to us, so things that affect them are important to us too. But so many parenting issues grow contentious as initial feelings of concern become loaded with judgment and superiority. The next thing you know, there are full-blown controversies over how other people are raising their kids.
I do my best not to get involved in those stupid parenting controversies.
Every night at dinner (well, we try to do it every night), the family goes around the table and run through our “peaks and pits.” (Except The Hammer. He mostly screams.)
We each share the best part and worst parts of our day. It’s mostly a ploy to get our 6-year-old to talk to us, but it’s become an interesting exercise for Mom and Buried and I as well. I’ve learned that no matter how well or how poorly my day went at work, or with my fantasy team, or even with my wife, it’s almost always the interactions with my kids that make up the best and worst moments of my day.
It’s kind of astonishing how your children are so frequently responsible for both your highest highs and lowest lows.
Being a parent is scary, mostly because children are terrifying, and not just in that nightmarish “standing silently next to your bed in the middle of the night” kind of way…
All sorts of crazy, unpredictable, and unbelievable things happen when you have kids in your life. (You know what they say: Parenting is like a box of chocolates, NOT ALL OF THAT IS CHOCOLATE OMG DON’T EAT IT!)
Not all of it makes sense.
Work sucks.
I like my job, I love my boss, but it’s still work. And work sucks! Especially when the alternative to work is a hanging with friends all weekend, or being on vacation, or enjoying retirement, or simply lying on the couch binge-watching TV shows.
But when the alternative is staying home with the kids all day? Work is the great escape.