Saturday, November 17, 2012

Patience: The King of Parenting Skills

My wife often gets mad at me for stating the obvious, but I do it anyway. I sometimes say things to her like, "Honey? We have children." Another favorite of mine is, "Honey? We're married." I figure these things are SO obvious, that saying them is funny. Seeing her get flustered because I've said these things is funny, too, because it is such an easy situation to create. Mind you, we've been married almost fourteen years and our oldest son is 12 (we have three). I don't say these things to be malicious. Rather, it is kind of a game for me. (Not a game I play often, either, but one doesn't need to play it often.) What's the point in my writing this?

My wife is gone on a trip for the weekend. It is 2:41 AM. My three year old has woken me up every 20 minutes or so since about 9 PM. His tummy hurts. His leg hurts. He wants something to eat. He wants to talk. He wants his Mommy. You name it, he wants it. He isn't sick. I think he's fine, really, other than that Mommy isn't home and he knows it and doesn't know what to do about it.

In situations like these, there isn't really anything that can be done but to endure. It is like when a child is sick, or during the times when one has to drive children around town: to baseball practice, to or from school, to or from the grocery store, day in, day out. While we are doing all the mundane tasks that make up the bulk of our day to day lives, there isn't really anything that can be done about it. Life isn't like TV or the movies, where something interesting is always happening. Often we have to find ways to appreciate the little things about what's going on. We need to keep looking at the same old, same old and keep finding new ways of seeing it so that it isn't boring. I was just reading someone else's blog post about, "writing what you know," and it made me think of this. This is something I know a LOT about (I think, while I'm watching my three year old eat his 10,000'th bowl of cereal.) Don't think I'm complaining, either. I love my children. I really do. When I look at his little nose and hear his little three year old voice, it makes all the monotony O.k.

Perhaps this doesn't need to be said, but I'm going to say it anyway. Parenting takes a lot of patience.

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