Being a father is really, to me, quite a humorous experience. I think small children----or maybe I should say 'young' perhaps instead of small, are quite funny, and disturbingly horrific all in the same day. This is a sort of emotional roller coaster that has taken quite a bit of getting used to. In fact, I don't really think that I am used to it even just yet. Perhaps I never shall be.
I didn't know, until recently, that love and repulsion were so closely related, but alas since dogs don't go "meow" and rocks still fall to the Earth when I release them from a height----It Is Most Certainly So. Do you wonder how any of that equals the later?? Me too,... but it does. Moving on....
Parents of toddlers, as I've discovered, have to be Really, REALLY on their game each minute of each day or the little Tazmanian(s) reap(s) that special kind of chaos that makes them and them alone smile that unique smile of satisfaction on the inside. Does this sound whiny or harsh? I suppose it shouldn't though because this is just one of the realities of boundary 'wars'. Yes, that's exactly what it is and let there be no mistake, it's tough, because your opponent doesn't tire easily; it usually takes about 12 good hours to ware out our little firecracker of a daughter. Oh yeah, in case you're wondering, she's 4 years old. She's four and going on a Master's in Systems Management. Didn't see that coming, but I guess that I should have. You give these people six inches and they want five feet. I really never thought that I would help to create a person that would ride around with me in the car without being able to see the road or even know the local vehicular laws and yet feel that it was their bound duty to tell me how to drive. Well, it's pretty funny alright. I suppose I'm not the only one that gets this kind of treatment. Hmm, I guess .that's a comforting thought.
I'll let you in on a little secret weapon of these people: Repetition. That's the name of their game. If they ask it or do it over and over for long enough I guess they just figure that you'll give up eventually so that you can be assimilated in to their greater and vaster plan of will. Hah, isn't it interesting how often parenting tales wind up sounding a lot like science fiction, even when it's not?? I think so. :)