Damn Kids (I say with love)

My kids disappoint me constantly. Don't confuse that statement with my kids being a disappointment, because there is a difference. I love my kids and I am very proud of who they are and what they've accomplished. But still, they disappoint. In what way? you may be asking. In the way that they don't follow through with my requests, er, demands. Just today, I was disappointed with 3 out of 4 kids' piano-practicing, 2 messy rooms, several food items left on the counter, just waiting to be snatched by a dog (or the kitten), one undrunk glass of milk, many fights that I had to referee, one outfit left on the bathroom floor, one large puddle of water after a bath, the way two of them balled up their piece of cake in their hands in order to eat it, misbehavior the store (wait, make that 2 stores), misbehavior at church, talking back, lying about homework being done... God, I could go on and on and ON...

If any of my employees did one half of what one of my kids did in a day, that employee would be gone. No accountability, no follow-through, lots of inter personnel conflict. Wow, my kids would be terrible to have on staff!

This is one of the ways parenting can wear a person down. The sheer volume of work to make sure that the kids get done what they need to get done (rather than me just doing it myself, because what would that teach them?) And the constant correcting and disciplining. Even though my kids are well beyond the terrible twos, I still hear myself saying the word NO (or DON'T or STOP) all the time.

I know, in a few short years, they'll be able to drive, and date, and we'll hardly ever see them, and I'll miss these days. Because they can really piss me off in one moment, but then come running for a hug and make me love them again in the next. Damn them. I can't even stay mad and hold a grudge (because I'm sure that works as a parenting technique). Which leads me to the biggest lesson of all. While I am on this earth to teach my kids a bunch of stuff in order to make them productive members of society, there is one very important thing they are teaching me.

Patience.