….having someone hold your hair while you barf. It’s an odd thing of parenting. Any residual squeamishness you might have had as a child, or even as a 20-something, goes right out the window when it comes to your kids. Spitup when they’re babies? After getting doused the first time or two, it’s no big deal. Poop under your fingernails? Eh, unplesant, but not the insta-vomit response it might have gotten when I was an angsty teen. Vomit? Ah yes. My daughter has the 12 hour vomitorama today. It’s amazing the bright orange color carrots get once they’ve had a quick bath in HCL, isn’t it? I’ve been barfed on (not just near, but on) about three times since midnight. Do I care? Nah, not really. It smells, sure, but this is my little girl. She can sit on my lap and barf for an hour, as long as she feels better doing it. As a parent, even if I were inclined to, it would be really bad form for me to jump up and down and go *ick* *ick* *ick*. That’s the kind of thing your kids remember *forever*, and not in a good way.
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Grown up?
Am I a Grown Up?
One of my kids asked me this today. I’m not really sure what brought it on either, which is the odd thing. I usually try to keep track of the things going on, what they’re watching, what they’re playing, so I know where this stuff comes from when it invariably pops up. This one, I missed the ball somewhere.
So I asked him “Well, do *you* think I’m a grown-up?â€
That, apparently, wasn’t something he’d considered. It took a few moments, and a few versions of the “thinking face†he gets when his paradigm gets stretched a little. The he responded with, “Kinda. But you’re more fun than lots of grownups.â€
Now here, parents, is a moral dilemma :) Being the “fun†parent usually means you’re slacking off somewhere, it means you’re failing to enforce discipline in one arena or another in comparison to your kid’s friends parents. So now I’m stuck. Do I want to go out of my way to be a “good†parent? i.e. a less “fun†parent? Or do I just keep on doing what I’m doing and hoping we don’t all end up on Oprah when they’re 18?
Damn, that’s a toughie
