The kids make me constantly re-evaluate things and I am often amused by the ways that I am becoming my parents (and occasionally visa versa). I now find myself doing things that I fought with my parents about, such as enforcing a bed time, or homework, or making Kris do chores. I will be having a discussion with Kris and get this deja veu feeling that I have had the same discussion before, but from a different point of view, and all you can do is hope that you can make your point and not have it seem to bad. Suddenly, what I was so sure was a grave misjustice at 13, is now a life lesson (or at least helpful) from my current point of view, and I find myself once again regretting arguing with my parents about a variety of things. Even funnier, is that when I talk to my Mum about it, she is now sometimes still on the other side of the fence, and now she is arguing on Kris’s side and I am arguing for what she always told me.
A good example is reading after going to bed. No big deal. My Mum did it, I did it, and Kris was doing it a bunch for a while. We had to crack down on it because he would stay up to late and be exausted the next day. I remember my parents checking up on me (although now I find that apparently Mum figured that it was all part of the game and was not really trying to stop me despite what it seemed like to me at the time). Now of course, Mum is full of stories of when she stayed up late reading, and encouragement for Kris doing it, and I am left arguing that he needs his sleep. It always seems kinda humerous to me…
The other source of amusement is that there definitly seems to be some karma involved with kids. I remember bugging my Dad about losing his hair, and now Kris bugs me about the same thing. Growing up, it seems like my Dad had a lot of tools. Now I have a lot, and my Dad does not seem to have as many. Coincidentally, I am pretty sure some of my tools look similar to his old ones, and I have a definite feeling that Christopher and I may have borrowed, kept and lost a few of his tools. To help prevent this, my Dad bought Kris some of his own tools and a toolbox. Despite this, I have been known to find my tools in Kris’ room because it was quicker. Also, I have this hair brush that I have had for a long time (I don’t have much hair to brush, so it lasts a long time). For some reason, it has my Dad’s initials on it and he would likely infer that it was once his (sounds like jumping to conclusions to me, but why argue). So of course, I caught Emma already trying to steal it (and she currently has even less hair than me!).
Overall, I just have to laugh about how it seems that the same things happen generation after generation and it seems like all you can really do is try your hardest to filter out the worst traits and emphasise the best ones and hope that you can do at least as good a job as your parents did and that maybe your children will turn out OK despite all those times that you screwed up.
So, Mum and Dad, sorry once again… It may have taken a little while, but I am starting to get the point.
More From mbentley
mbentley Recommends
- More Things To Ponder (Ethel The Frog)
- More On “ObamaCare” (Ethel The Frog)
Sorry hon. I think Emma is winning the race to see who has more hair. xox
Sorry hon. I think Emma is winning the race to see who has more hair. xox