JstParenting

This parenting gig is hard. Always heard that, “parenting is the hardest, most rewarding thing you can do.” I just didn’t fully realize how brutally honest it is. See, all my experience around kids was as an uncle. Even when the kids aren’t actually related to me, I was the uncle. It was all fun, and knowing that by just being a decent guy and around, I was setting a good example that might hopefully have some kind of long term impact.




Now don’t get me wrong, the Kyd is a phenomenal kid. She’s sweet, very funny, creative and wise beyond her years. She also loves to push buttons, insists on having an opinion at every turn, and has lately listened to me about as well as the Egypitans have been listening to their dictator. Yes, I realize that I’m a dictator in this situation. But that’s basically what parenting is, only the Kyd insists on fairness and a vote, in everything. She wants a say in dinner, when she comes in, how we spend our money, what we eat, what jobs I may consider, and even how she’s punished.



I realized a couple weeks ago that she and I were just butting heads way too much, and I know it puts Mrs. Hirp in an uncomfortable position. So I surprised her with a run for some frozen yogurt, and she was thrilled. We had a nice little chat, about how we’d both try harder. Basically meaning that I’d try to have a little more patience, and she’d occasionally do what I ask her to do upon the first request. Maybe I should have asked that she listen within the first two requests and dump her running editorial. I worry about her, and what could be happening at school that might be causing her to act out. Mostly because I think of how I was as a kid. Of course, she doesn’t have any of my DNA, but that’s how I can relate to her. She may not believe it, but I remember being nine. I remember it very well in fact. And at nine, I had more on my plate than most kids my age. So if she’s giving us attitude, I start think she’s internalizing some sort of drama. Maybe it’s the girls in the neighborhood, and there’s always drama with the three of them. Maybe someone’s bullying her, or maybe she’s not being nice to someone and she feels guilty. She’s always been so great at talking with her mother about what’s bothering her, so unlike the nine year old Hirp, so we tend to think that’s probably not the case.



Maybe she just wants to stand up to her step-father, she wouldn’t be the first. And let me tell you this, a bit off subject though. Anytime there’s a step-father in the news, I cringe. I cringe like any law abiding Muslim when there’s an extremist in the news. Lets just be clear, most step-fathers just want to get along with the kids. We love them as if they’re our own. Worry about all the things biological fathers’ worry about: mostly preventing boys from entering the picture. We’re not bad dudes. We’re not molesters or child beaters, just doing the best we can. Like the Sports Guy says, my job is to keep her off the poll and avoid becoming a grandparent for another 30 years. Got it? Good.



Pretty sure most of what is going on is hormone driven, which scares the shit out of me even more so. She’s just nine, and if the hormones are raging now, well then I just have to decide how much damage I want to do to my liver in the next 6 years. But then she flips a switch, or Cybil leaves the house, and she’s laughing and being the sweetest kid on the planet. I don’t expect her to be perfect, but she has spoiled us so. She has the vocabulary of a girl in her twenties, and she’s also the tallest in her class. She hardly ever appears to be a nine year old. Then she acts like a nine year old, and we forget that’s exactly what she is.