...obsession

Certain phrases have become meaningless to me, “Homework is done,” “Back in ten minutes”, “Five-minute showers”, “Just one more level on the video game,” The eyes in the back of my head have become telescopic and the intuition is tuned to perfect pitch. I happily admit that I am edging ever nearer to parental perfection.

To me,
My planet of reference has left the orbit of influence and sometime while passing through the port of experience, it jettisoned guilt, anxiety and fear and became shielded by hard-earned peace and tranquility. Signing off, T

The ages of my children span nearly a decade, (infant to grade schooler, toddler to tween, and grade schooler to graduate) and I’m observing an interesting phenomena. We parents of teens, who also have toddlers lack the naivety that motivates new parents to action. We lack the fear and anxiety that the rest of society relies upon to inspire parents to act!

There are not many things that can shock, thrill or motivate the parent of a last child and I’ve found this nonchalant attitude to be very liberating. My list of obsessions is minimal. I worry less about gracing the perfect teacher, pacing the nightly homework, or facing the “bees and bird” discussion.

For a third-time parent, academic perfection is passé. It really doesn’t matter which reading group the child is in, and there is a certain calm that comes in knowing that poor writing and bad spelling can be adapted-to rather than improved-upon. It’s not that I’ve given up, but I’m worn down by the constant battering and I’ve given in.

Well okay, given up may be a better fit.

Reality Bite: Give in, give up, or get a prescription.