I'm the father of a (nearly) five year old, and a one year old; both boys. And I love it. I love watching them grow from projects into people. I love that Firstborn is making up words and learning to spell and creating his own superhero poses. I love that Secondborn will come and flop down on top of me when I'm lying on the floor, and that his first identifiable words were "more pizza". I love that my wife and I work as a team, making sure the kids get what they need in order to grow and learn.
And now I'm forcibly reminded that I'm months behind on my parenting journal. ::sigh:: But anyway...
I get irritated with people who insist, axiomatically, that children are always an unalloyed blessing. Kids are a lot of work. Parenting is not a job for the faint of heart - it's a job with a heavy workload, odd hours, and very few breaks; it's sometimes terrifying, often disgusting, occasionally sleepless, and invariably expensive. It's not for everybody. But it can also be profoundly rewarding, and it's no wonder at all that people love it.
Two nights ago, Firstborn told me with great sincerity that he was going to make cardboard armor. With twenty spikes. Because it was going to be a horned frog. And he wanted a mask. That shoots blood from its eyes! And yeah, I know that's going to seem deeply weird to a lot of people, but that's my son!
(His grandmother was just glad that he hadn't settled on some other college mascot.)
I get irritated with people who insist, axiomatically, that children are always an unalloyed blessing.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. Children aren't blessings to everyone. If you don't want children you probably shouldn't have them. People shouldn't be forced into parenthood, they'll likely(not always) make lousy parents.
Thanks for sharing your parenting journals. Are you going to help Firsborn with his armor? That's cute. :)
Parenting is a grind. Dealing with schools, other parents, and consumer based culture is absurd.
ReplyDelete@ D'Ma - Possibly, though my father is the Great Cardboard Artist Of Our Time. And he could probably figure out a way to make the mask spray red water, or something.
ReplyDelete@ Andy - No kidding. I love dealing with the kids, and generally I don't mind dealing with the rest of it, but there are times when I'd just like to have some me-time back. Fortunately, as they get older, that seems to get easier.
Me time? What is me time? I kid of course I used to have me time, but I've traded it for "can I have"______(fill in the blank)but it usually involves food around here.
ReplyDeleteI love my kiddo's dearly, they are almost five and dare I say get funnier by the day, but sometimes when bedtimes rolls around it's the best part of the day for daddy and me. :)
Life *has* been a lot easier since we instituted the Take Back The Night approach to bedtimes.
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