Today started off so rough that I overslept 3 hours and missed a phone conference. Yep, that was how I started off the day that was supposed to be Reds Opening Day.
All tagged Parenting
Today started off so rough that I overslept 3 hours and missed a phone conference. Yep, that was how I started off the day that was supposed to be Reds Opening Day.
My little guy turned 10 today. I’m not going to say the time flew by because in all actuality parenting is hard. Occasionally I wake up and suddenly realize, “oh shit, I have two sons,” while wondering why anybody left me responsible for innocent children. But in all reality, I’ve earned my parenting stripes over the last decade in part because Harry keeps me on my toes.
Today is my Ollie’s birthday. This got me to thinking about how much my life has changed since he burst onto the scene 11 years ago. Well, more accurately he strolled onto the scene after hours and hours of agony, but who remembers or cares about labor room details. Anyway, please enjoy this list of 11 reasons why Ollie makes me better.
Because of my own struggles with fitness, it’s unexplainable that I agreed to train for the Columbus Marathon with my bff, Molly. Sure, we were raising money for Leukemia Lymphoma Society (my mom’s a Lymphoma survivor and her dad succumbed to Leukemia) and the race was the day after I turned 30, but it still seemed like an unattainable goal. Speaking of goals, I frequently joked throughout training that I just didn’t want to be last place.
I don’t understand boredom, never have.
Well, there was this one time in about 1984 when I uttered the word bored. Quicker than I knew what happened I was in the barn, ankle-deep in cow shit spending a hot summer afternoon contemplating all the fun things I could have been doing had I just taken a few minutes to find some fun instead of whining.
In due time I realized comparing my parenting to anybody else was ridiculous. All families are different and kids’ needs and circumstances vary wildly. Also, if I’m not modeling authenticity with my children, how will they learn to be true to themselves?
A year or so ago, I found an Instagram account called Nature is Metal. It’s a graphic, brutally honest and violent representation of the animal kingdom. The curators are clearly fans of the unforgiving nature of Mother Nature. Recent posts include hyenas eating a lion’s head, an anaconda swallow a fawn and zebras murdering their young. This is not for the faint of heart.
The hectic lifestyle, exorbitant expenses and unrealistic expectations make being a modern parent exhausting. I won’t even mention how babies are huge assholes—oh wait, maybe I just did. But come on, they’re demanding tyrants with deplorable communication skills.
Most of us only think of our mothers as our mothers. We don’t take time to consider much about who they are as people—what their aspirations were before we came along and changed everything.
Among the hundreds of emails I get every day, I’m generally pretty good at keeping track of school announcements. I guess I missed one, because as we ran up the steps into school, I saw my sons were the only kids in their uniforms.
