Who Said I Was The Perfect Parent?

My son and I are sitting at the dining room table trying to get him to finish up his homework. It's only 1st grade, how much homework could you really get?? According to my son, "Way too much!!" "Doesn't matter, you've got to do it," I say. He fights back, "I don't love you anymore!" Hmmm, under normal circumstances I probably would have been upset. I love my son so much, every single living breathing minute of the day, how could he possibly not love me back?! I try to keep my patience in check... He's only got to finish up a few more math problems, how bad could it be? Twenty minutes later... not much progress... and oh yeah, he still doesn't love me. Do I care? A little bit, but honestly I care more about him finishing up his homework and me not getting a detention notice from his teacher.

We all aspire to be the perfect parent and have our child love us every single minute of the day. But honestly, if we are going to discipline and guide our kids through life without a handbook is this really going to happen? Have we loved our own mother every single moment of our lives? If you're like me the answer is probably "no". Truth is, being a parent means having to make some tough decisions and not always being your child's best friend. So your child tells you you're not their favorite person anymore... so be it. They'll thank you for some of the decisions you've made for them down the road. At least I can feel good about trying to set the right foundation for him today. That's my job. It's five minutes before bedtime. My son's job right now is getting his homework done and brushing his teeth before he goes to bed. As he is falling asleep and I kiss him on the cheek, he whispers that he loves me. Maybe we'll have strawberry ice cream for dessert tomorrow...

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