The Gambling Parent

My daughter turns 14 on the 18th of this month and we are driving my husband crazy with our fighting, I honestly don’t know how I’m going to survive the teenage years with her (I Love you Bree)! But it’s time to re-shuffle the deck of cards a bit and start playing with a fresh hand!

A Prayer to My Late Father

“Yes dad, I’m hearing you from above I know I was the same exact way, and I’m so, so sorry but there has to be some relief to this madness, every generation is suppose to be an improvement from the previous, therefore I have my work cut-out 10-fold but I’m loosing inspiration of how to improve and the leverage of my control is in question. I need help, some sort of divine intervention, before I need intervening. I’m running out of aces! If we could just sit down and share one last taste of your whiskey, I promise I wouldn’t turn-up my face or my thoughts to your strong whiskey or the sound of your stout advice.”

Different Types of Parents

I’m constantly pointing out why she should do things a particular way and what could happen if she doesn’t do it the right way (in her juvenile opinion, I’m being a “Helicopter Mom.”)

I need to keep my mouth shut (“Lose Lips Sink Ships”) and let her wreck a couple of times…then maybe she will understand. I should get out of the seat for a little while and let her drive…she may hit a couple of things, as long as she doesn’t kill someone or herself in the process she will survive. Maybe she will learn from her experiences - what a hard way to learn - guess the harder the lesson, the more valuable it is!

Everyone has different perspectives and styles on parenting; lecturing, spanking, screaming, grounding etc. My parenting style is “Lecturer,” I explain to her what could happen (the good and the bad) if she makes particular choices in life. If I eliminate that approach, where does that leave me in the role of parenting? I don’t scream, that only leaves me with a headache & eye-rolling, hitting is not an option it’s just abuse causing problems that surface later in life teaching your child you’re ill-equipped in the communication department and setting an example of the type of communicator they may become as an adult is in my opinion an uneducated approach at discipling, so what do I do…lock her up for the next 5 years?

The reason I’m writing this is because she told me I was like Bree Van De Campe from Desperate Housewives (total “Helicopter Mom”)…this hurt my feelings bad (I know this statement is quite funny to others, but it’s very serious to me)! I don’t view myself like that at all. I don’t want to drive my daughter away and make her do things she wouldn’t typically do, like that crazy OCD woman does with her kids. My first reaction here is to take away her privilege of watching that movie! HaHa!! But it’s just like treating an illness…if you don’t treat the underlying condition, the symptoms will still surface and If I’m part of the symptom then I need to fix my problems as well.

How to Play the Game

You know what I think; I think parenting is like gambling, you don’t know if the hand you’re playing is going to beat out the hand your child is playing and you can never discount or predict the third party involvement (the “Company they Keep,” aka - the dealer). So how do you know when to hold’em or when to fold’em? I don’t know, but I think I’m folding my cards for a while to see what happens!

Now Playing Bree with Desperate House Wives

Now Playing The Gambler Kenny Rogers