When You Define Perfection Don’t Look At Me….

Lately I find it hard to fall asleep at night. I am plagued by all of the things I have done wrong as a parent. I can’t figure out exactly what those things are, but I surely must have done them because my kids have turned out, well, not exactly perfect. I know that no one’s kids are perfect and no person is perfect and we really do not want our children to be perfect, but how about close to perfect? Or even half way there? I would take that in a New York minute.

I have lamented before about our potty poopin troubles with William and they are still around. I actually thought we had turned a corner there about a week ago, but things just got worse. Now William doesn’t want to go to school next month. He is afraid he might have to poop while there. He has become the master of holding it in, but Junior Kindergarten is all day for him. He is worried, but really has no idea! Me? I am freakin’ out! During our holidays last week he didn’t even want to go out to parks etc because he was afraid he would have to poop. :-(. It has not been fun. Add in my increasing fears about his Food Allergies and I am seriously thinking about Home Schooling. Lots of moms and dads do it, right? The only problem is I would then be stuck with my two all day and I really don’t think any of us would survive that. That lack of perfection is not just on their part.

That leads me to Emily. Is there some unwritten law that says as soon as you turn ten you get to be mouthy and disrespectful to your parents and not fear any sort of discipline? I firmly believe she thinks she is immune to punishment because she always seems so surprised by it. And listening skills ( or the lack thereof ), whatever happened to just doing what you were told? Do these kids really think we are gonna forget what we told them not five minutes earlier? Do they really think we are that dense? Man, I want to pull my hair out and scream when she tries that. I just don’t understand kids these days. I am sure my parents are laughing their heads off as they read this and maybe they had that coming to them, but when the laughter is over I have to ask, what the heck do I do? I can take away privileges and toys, but it seems to do no good. I am at a loss. I am seriously considering boot camp or whatever those tough love places are called. Do they even work? Oprah and Dr. Phil make it appear as those they do, but I am sure they cost a small fortune. That leads me to another problem: money.  I thought that I was doing a decent job of showing my kids the value of money and why it is important to save for what we want and need. Most of the time I am still pretty sure the lesson is being learned, but this time of year kills that. I honestly do not recall the definition of “back to school” as being ” I need all new things.” Did I miss that memo? Do your kids shoes get too tight over the summer to the point they need new ones even though they just got new ones in June? Do all of your pens run dry in nine weeks? Why is it necessary to “change your style completely” for that first day when the kids you are seeing just saw you in your old clothes two weeks ago? I think I am going to have “money doesn’t grow on trees” tattooed to my forehead cause I am sure getting tired of saying it. 🙁

Perfection is far from my grasp and this little rant just confirmed it. 🙁  The end.

FT&PD

Suz