How the Tide Turns

I cannot begin to tell you how I loathed certain things my mother used to say to me as a child, and I always thought to myself, I will never do that to my kids. Admit it, everyone has at least thought that once in their lives! LOL, how the tides have turned... Now that I am a mom, and a mom to a precariously curious 3 year old, I am finally beginning to understand the “Because I said so!” and the “Because that's the way it is!” The ever lingering “why” word is used with such innocent conviction and sometimes after exhausting all my explanations, the answer is simply, “Because I said so!” A prime example to this scenario is, "But why can't I have another cookie?" "Because it's nearly dinner time." "But why??" "Because I said so!" Trying to find an answer that meets your three year old's satisfaction is far more challenging than meets the eye.

I find it very ironic the way that I feel about parenting from a parent's perspective. Behind all that moaning and groaning was actually sound reasoning too. When I think of what I must have put my mom through I always have a little chuckle, because what we do not realize as pesky kids is that someday we’ll be the annoying mother who has to be the bad person in order to protect and teach our inquisitive younglings. As a child I was very, let's say strong-willed, for argument sake and I never thought I'd find myself on the other side of the fence defending the parents :) I was going to be the cool mom who let her children watch late night television, eat pizza for dinner every night, who was always available to drive you around, and mostly the mom with the seemingly endless pockets.

But alas, as a parent, it is far more important now for me to teach my children right from wrong, good from bad, and to be humble, honest and compassionate. Yes, they might not always be on the 'A list' for parties because their mother wont let them out in that skirt, but at least I will sleep soundly knowing that I have done everything possible to raise responsible children. They might not always like me for it, but I know, when they're mommies one day, they will understand and appreciate it. Just a pity it takes being a parent to understand a parent, and that those years of wisdom have only filtered through now :) Be good to your kids!