Pro parenting tip. If you're stuck at home with all the kids because of a snow day or you forgot they have a superintendent's conference day off or some such, save your sanity by baking. Look, it won't matter if you can't boil water without burning it. Siri, Alexa, Google, or whatever they name the next version of Skynet, can walk you through the process. If that doesn't work an elder relative or neighbor can bail you out. You will be a superhero to the children until the baked goods run out. Use the time they're distracted divvying up the spoils of your labor among themselves to plan the next distraction. Try the kitchen clean up game or the laundry folding game. Don't laugh, it might work. Now the other part to this is always be prepared for emergency baking. If you're going to work with recipes from scratch this means you're stocked up on flour, sugar (brown, white, and confectioners), salt, baking soda, baking powder, butter, oil, and yeast. Or you can keep packages of cookie dough hidden in the fridge and freezer. Well hidden mind you, children are like blood hounds with that stuff. Also don't eat the treasure yourself. Your sanity will thank you later. Ever have one of those days where it looks like you have to choose between parenting and everything else? You're trying to get out the door but someone can't find a shoe or a mitten or a favorite toy or their cell phone or, lets stop. With all the stuff children come with in the West we could gone for pages. Some days you squint at your children and wonder why you ever thought this parenting thing would be fun. You wonder who that idiot was that thought they could do it better than all the other parents they saw struggling with uncooperative children on the streets and in stores. Those are the days when everything has to happen at once. You ask yourself how you will handle it all without inflicting lasting physical and/or psychological damage on the small to medium sized humans that some how ended up in your care. Aside from the occasional accident, large bag, short child with no sense of personal space, jumpy parent, you realize it's simple to avoid physical harm. Deep despair grips you when you realize that you may cause undue psychological harm without even realizing it. You wonder who's bright idea it was to leave you in charge of children then remember it was your own. While you're trying to figure that out you also have to stay ahead of a boss, coworkers, and/or a spouse. If you're a "stay at home" parent all three of those are the same person. If you are a single parent you are all of those are you. At some point you are questioning your sanity and starting to get some insight into why the elderly often seem strange. They've raised children. Then your darling offspring does or says something cute, charming, profound, outrageous, or any combination thereof that gives you hope. The haze of confusion and self doubt clears and for the moment you think you've got this. At least until the next bit of crazy comes along and you have to do your parent hustle again. |
AuthorI take a general what happens if I do this approach to life. It keeps things interesting. Archives
March 2021
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