Whoever said parenting was easy
was obviously either an idiot, or not a parent.
Being the father of two children has been both the most rewarding experience of my life,
and the most frustrating, and both at the same time. I love my kids
beyond reason, and would stop at nothing to protect them. I am an
overprotective Dad, and that fact does not bother me in the very least. I get a
lot of moans and groans when my response to, “…but Dad, the other kids are…”
is, “No.”. I always explain my reasoning, which is more than I ever got as a
kid. The “No” had better have been reason enough for me, because explanation
beyond that evolved my Dad’s voice going up several decibels, and always made
me wish I had not questioned it. I can still remember, “That look” in the
rearview mirror I would get if I asked too many questions on the family outing.
“That look” would be all it would take to shut me up immediately. I guess I
just didn’t have the huevos to talk back to Dad beyond that.
Something has changed in the last several years. I have heard it called the generation gap,but I remember my parents talking about how disrespectful we were in comparisonof them. I shiver to think that my Dad or my Father-in-Law would come back andwitness how kids act today. I know for a fact that had I rolled my eyes at myold man the way my 12 year old did at me the other day, I would still benursing a sore head, if not worse. I remember thinking at maybe not 12, but atperhaps 9 or 10 that my Dad could easily kill me. Come on, for Pete’s sake, he
TOLD me he could. He would say, “I brought you into this world, I can take you back out of it.” Holy cat crap Batman! That scared the feces out of me. You see, I really thought that my Dad had the ability to kill me. I thought that just any day I would do or say the wrong thing and one of those huge arms would come out of nowhere and crush me, “like the little fissure that
I was.”
My 12 year old has developed an attitude, and her grades have slipped below par, so I’m a bit upset. I know she’s a “tween” and her hormones are running rampant and she’s crazy headed, but corrective measures have been called into play. I have had to take the position of “Mean old Dad” and ground her, take away her iPod, her PSP, her Nintendo DS, PS2, Cell phone (and thus text messaging capabilities), CD player, TV, DVD and her iMac. All she can do now is homework, chores, read and draw. I’m barking at her like a drill instructor while she washes dishes, clothes, cleans house, her room,
and everything else I can find for her to do. The thing is, the only person that has
their feelings hurt and that it seems to be bothering….. is me!
Being a Dad is both the most rewarding thing and aggravating thing I have ever done, hands
down.
