A Mother's Prayer
Dear God,
When you gave him to me, I tried to be philosophical. Really, I did. I tried to believe that there was some reason I had been chosen to mother a "spirited" child. I mean...I know I got a little sanctimonious when the first one turned out to be so well-behaved and I'm sorry. I realize now that the credit lies with his easygoing nature, and not my superlative parenting skills as I might have implied once or twice...or, every time I saw my friend with the serial biter.
And I completely understand and accept that my patience level was not where it needed to be in order to parent such a resolute child. Worms in the pocket, matchbox cars in the toilet and grooming the cat with Fiskars were all valuable exercises in that regard. Thank You. I can honestly say that my patience with and tolerance for such behavior has increased tenfold. I could have done without finding him perched atop the play structure, but I realize it was for my own good.
So I have tried to be humble and accept that you are testing me, challenging me, encouraging me to find new and better ways of parenting with my second son, who has shattered every preconceived idea I had about myself and parenting in general. I have tried to appreciate that I was being given an opportunity to learn and grow.
But after nearly 8 years of doing it your way, I have to face the truth of the matter....
You're just messin' with me, aren't you?
When you gave him to me, I tried to be philosophical. Really, I did. I tried to believe that there was some reason I had been chosen to mother a "spirited" child. I mean...I know I got a little sanctimonious when the first one turned out to be so well-behaved and I'm sorry. I realize now that the credit lies with his easygoing nature, and not my superlative parenting skills as I might have implied once or twice...or, every time I saw my friend with the serial biter.
And I completely understand and accept that my patience level was not where it needed to be in order to parent such a resolute child. Worms in the pocket, matchbox cars in the toilet and grooming the cat with Fiskars were all valuable exercises in that regard. Thank You. I can honestly say that my patience with and tolerance for such behavior has increased tenfold. I could have done without finding him perched atop the play structure, but I realize it was for my own good.
So I have tried to be humble and accept that you are testing me, challenging me, encouraging me to find new and better ways of parenting with my second son, who has shattered every preconceived idea I had about myself and parenting in general. I have tried to appreciate that I was being given an opportunity to learn and grow.
But after nearly 8 years of doing it your way, I have to face the truth of the matter....
You're just messin' with me, aren't you?
posted by Blog Antagonist @ 12:48 PM
2 Comments:
At 5:49 PM,
IzzyMom said…
You're scaring me. I fear I may have a spirited one, too. It's too soon to tell but I probably have it coming after having such an easy and well-behaved first child. And yes, as a matter of fact it WAS due to my exemplary parenting ;-P
At 7:51 PM,
Blog Antagonist said…
See...there's a reason the spirited one is second. It's so that we will continue to reproduce instead of fishing out our reproductive organs with a coat hanger.
If you have a spirited child, or suspect you have one, I highly recommend reading Mary Kurcinka's "Raising Your Spirited Child". It won't fix everything, but it makes a Mom feel like she's doing something constructive. Most of the time, I feel like I'm just moving from one barely averted disaster to another, so that's a good feeling. ;?)
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