My family traveled out of town for a visit to see my folks recently. It’s about two and a half hours away, and we normally can pile in fine in one car.
We are a family of four, so that seems reasonable, right?
Author: Mike Gibbons
It’s hard to see your kid going through some of the gauntlets of childhood. You know they are going to go through it, just as you did. But that’s life, right? Heck, you also know they may be the givers of angst in other kids’ lives. The key, though, is knowing that your kid can rise above.
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It’s in the jeans
I need a new pair of jeans.
It’s the familiar old process I find myself going through at least every 10 or so years.
Yes, I wear jeans for a long time. And I usually only have two pairs of jeans at a time — the pair I will wear out hiking in the woods or swamps, and the pair I will wear into civilization.
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Round two with the sea
I don’t like losing. Granted, I don’t know many people who actually like losing, but I do know plenty of people who do not have it actively affect their blood pressure, even if it is something as important as a board game or a football game on TV.
My kids are 12 and 15, so I’ve been out of the parenting business for about seven years.
Really, if they have learned it by five, what chance do you have?
Ha! Just some bad parenting humor there. I know a parent’s job is never done. I’m 43, and pretty much every time I visit with my parents, I lean on them for some sage words of advice, often which is, “Payback’s tough, huh?”
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The Jenga ninja
It’s always good when I can remind my kids that I am, in fact, the most awesome person they have met.
My kids are 12 and 15, so my days of pure, unquestioned awesome are well behind me. That is particularly the case with my daughter, who at 15 is now by far the smartest person the world has ever known, and I am repeatedly one of the most foolish people on the planet. One of the most common phrases out of her mouth is “You don’t know what I’m doing!” Close second: “Daaaa-aaad!!!!”
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The oblivion queen
I have come to grips with the fact that most humans can no longer carry on a single normal activity without having their face buried in a phone.
I don’t necessarily like it, but I get it.
Heck, I’m guilty of it at times, too. You are probably like me in that one of the siren songs of your life is the notification of a text message when you’re in the middle of a very boring conversation.
There are lots of folks who will tell you that “growing pains” are not a real thing.
These are doctors, with years of experience and gobs of research under their belt. The Mayo Clinic even says this on their website:
If there is one thing in life I have learned, it’s that yelling at your server will rarely yield positive results.
I base this on the fact that (a) I have been a waiter before and (b) I’m a fairly decent human.
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Captain Hook
I’m not sure what hurt my son more: The fact that his sister caught a fish before him, or the hook in his hand.
Oh, wait. Yes, I do. It was the hook. Definitely the hook.
It happened while surf fishing recently. Both of the kids had their fishing poles rigged up and baited with some delicious mullet. I had a blanket spread out on the beach and was prepared to enjoy the sunset and read a book because, let’s face it, the only time we’ve ever come close to catching our limit would be if the limit was zero.