you do you, boo

As a teacher and dad, I think I always had visions of what my summers with my kids would look like. Enriching library activities, minimal screen time, healthy snacks, books galore, academically enriching tasks and chores. I'm sure you're all laughing at this point. You see, when you see the effects of certain trends in parenting (electronic devices from day one, junk food as the norm, the list is endless) play out in your job, you tend to don your white hat and say, "I would never do that." If you're reading this and are not a parent, let me just say, never say never. HW is only 3 and the number of my nevers that have come back on me is absurd.

I know I tend to be judgy. Without getting too deep into my enneagram obsession, it's part of my makeup as a 1 - I tend to want the world to be "right," which we all know won't happen this side of eternity. I am working on that, even if it isn't always evident. Parenting has a way of humbling you and making you realize that there are things you never thought you would do that you do. I had read so many books before we were even matched that I had all these strategies and tools in my tool belt, but sometimes we just revert back to what worked for us as kids. Sometimes I yell, sometimes (ok often) I spank, sometimes I tell him he has to just figure it out on his own because I won't always be around to fix it for him.

But every day, I have to do what keeps me sane and what keeps him mildly satisfied and alive. At the end of the day, that's what we all want as parents, right? I know that HW will never be happy 100% of the time, but he does know he is loved and that his basic needs are met. Some days you may have a nutritious, organic meal prepared for lunch after a morning of imaginative play and no screen time. And then there are some days when you throw on a movie so you can iron and dust the house and keep the sliver of sanity you still have on your last week of vacation. I'll let you guess which one is my Monday morning. Imma do me, and imma let you do you, boo. You're keeping a tiny human alive. Congratulations, it's harder than you thought.