On a good day, parenting will test the integrity of your character. On a bad day, parenting will test your will to live. Parenting children with trauma histories will cause you to test the integrity of everything and everyone you thought you knew, for the rest of your life.
~J. Skrobisz

Thursday, May 13, 2010

RADilicious gardening 101

Sissy, sissy sissy. When will she learn?

It's like weeds. You can spray your lawn for 'em but by the end of the summer, they're all creeping back in. Some days, you have to wonder why the *bleep* do I bother at all?

And so the lying, sneaking, ridiculous games have returned. But guess what hasn't? Mommy's riled up response to it all. Said to my sweet child tonight, "you know what? You want to lie about bathing properly and be stinky and get made fun of? Go right ahead! It's not a problem for me!"

Oooo! Did I make her mad!
'cept I was laughing. "I love you Sissy, but you lied and you know it. I know it, we all know it. Good night dear."

There's no other explanation for it beyond weeds. Those old habits just keep on coming back. Short of torching the whole lawn and laying down fresh sod, they'll keep coming back. And guess what? Even the fresh sod ends up getting weeds over time. Welcome to RADilicious gardening 101.

3 comments:

stellarparenting.com said...

I love the weeds analogy, I think that I should use that one. Have a good weekend.

Kelly said...

Good analogy. Thanks for the reminder. It helps in the area of discouragement to remember that I am not alone, my Beth is not the only one, and of course the natural consequences response is perfect in so many situations.

Your analogy could be taken even further to remind all of us that sometimes NO MATTER WHAT we do and no matter how attentive we are and no matter how diligent we are the weeds still return. Maybe not the same weeds, or in the same places but it is a life long struggle to keep those darn weeds away. (In my own life as well)

Have a weed free day!!

Jennifer said...

Sometimes the very best we can do is to recognize that we cannot change someone else's behavior no matter how hard we try...but we can certainly change our own reactions to that person's behavior.

Best and peace.