Standing around with two of my best girlfriends at my daughter’s 4th birthday party, I found some validation, enlightenment, and perspective (as much as one might muster amid a horde of tiny, rushing, screaming humans).
Monthly Archives: October 2012
Debacle at Target
It has been an interesting day for me today, and while I don’t frequently share these little incidents (mainly because they are horribly embarrassing and happen way too frequently), I felt this one was crazy enough to do so.
The Parental Juggling Act
Parenthood: More than just juggling hearts and flowers!
When you have two working parents, and two children, there are many different things you have to try to balance. It’s not easy. It’s exhausting. It frequently requires a tag-team effort.
Yes, there are the meals that go uncooked, the house that goes uncleaned, and mass chaos but on top of that there are other considerations:
- Determining which of us is less likely to face career retribution from staying home or leaving early to take care of kids;
- Figuring out which one of us is actually more tired and frustrated (competitive self-pity);
- Delegation of triage procedures for toy-related injuries;
- Which series on the DVR to delete because we’ve never managed to catch up;
- Which children’s program is the least annoying;
- Setting a date and time to actually have a conversation not involving scheduling, kids, or finances…
and the actually managing to do it; - Locating and/or remembering what presents were hidden where and who they were for in the first place;
- Figuring out who gets to eat the treats we deny our children for health reasons (aka taking one for the team)!
Can you relate to any of this? Parenthood: a wonderful journey requiring frequent comedy breaks and a massive sense of humor!
Things I Don’t Get
My niece has inspired a new list for me this evening. I will call it “Things I Don’t Get”…
1. Why anyone would need an additional belly button tattoo right next to the original: was the first one lonely?Didn’t it hurt enough the first time?
2. Skinny jeans: they certainly don’t make anyone skinny!
3. 18 self-checkout machines manned by 3 employees staring at the 26 people in the regular check-out lane for who shopping in the first place was a big enough ordeal without bagging it all too…
3.5 Ditto for airport self service kiosks;
4. Entertainment venues offering children’s parties where parents are not free;
5. The existence of caffeine-free diet soda in general (and how I have managed twice now in two weeks to buy it);
6. Why they can’t make in rewards card that accommodates a plethora of vendors;
7. Velveeta.
Clearly I am getting old, rigid and easily confused, but honestly it wears me out just thinking about this stuff.
The first item on my list is really just to razz my sister about her crazy kids…though yeah, STILL don’t get it.
balancinggal 