You'll Miss This One Day

This is part two in my series on horrible parenting advice.  It's advice that's often given in the middle of some hair-pulling, murder-justifying conflict between parent and child.   It could be fighting between brother and sister, putting junk food in the shopping cart every five minutes, jumping on the couch when you've told them not to for the hundredth time, or my personal favorite--trying to have a conversation with a 4-year old.  For those of you that haven't had the joy of such an encounter, it involves you answering a series of "Why" questions.  It often ends with either a Google Search or you questioning your entire life.  Regardless of the end result, you'll be stressed.

  Is there anything Google doesn't know?

For some reason, these things tend to happen in public.  And, the second you let out a much-needed 'sigh', somebody says, "You'll miss this one day."  It's here that I'd like to call them out on their BS.  Please, tell me, what part of "this" will I miss?  The constant harassment?  Never-ending questions?  Being pooped on? This:




I have a theory on why people say such ridiculous things:  Evolution is designed so that older parents forget how miserable it was raising kids.  That way, they can talk their adult children into having kids of their own so the cycle of life continues.  It's also a way of ensuring that you don't kill your children now, thus preventing their future contributions to social security.

What these people are trying to say is that they miss the idea of raising kids.  The thought of molding a young mind and guiding a child to become all that he/she can is something to aspire to indeed.  The reality though, is that instead of molding minds and guiding, you're filling sippy cups and crying, wondering where you went wrong.

Thanks for the advice, but I will not miss this.

Sometimes, you need Google to answer your own questions.

Catch part one of my horrible parenting advice series:  Enjoy Your Kids While They're Young.

Enjoy Your Kids While They're Young

As a parent you hear plenty of unsolicited advice.  Without doubt, the most common piece of advice I've heard from others is "Enjoy your kids while they're young".  This little nugget always comes from one of two types of people: grandparents or parents of teens.

The grandparents that give this advice always mean well, and if they would stop after submitting their advice, it wouldn't be so bad.  It's pretty solid advice.  The only time kids really look up to you and want to hang out with you is when they're young, so why not enjoy it.  And if you're lucky, maybe they'll like you again when they turn 30.  The problem comes when they