Larry Hnetka Goes HMmmm

“Okay, that’s it” was the sigh of resignation I read loudly over at one of my favourite weblog’s DragonLady’s World.

What advice would you give DL if your child asked you this question?

And “go and ask your mother/father” just won’t cut it with a question like this.

I applaud any parent raising children today. I know I would be a nervous wreck about basics like: ►safety (physical, emotional); ►growth (physical and mental); ►quality of their education; ►friends.

The toughest time must be the transition from being your “little child” to being their own “individual”.

And then there’s the whole “birds and bees” lecture — of which I don’t recall my parents ever giving me. The only thing I remember my father saying to me as a teenager was “if you get her pregnant, I’ll personally cut off your (insert your colloquial choice for penis).

I joke with my sister that our generation had “absent parents” who didn’t involve themselves that much in our lives.

When I watch my sister with her children, I see many of today’s parents “overly involved” with their children. My sister’s hand jumps straight up and she shouts: “I’ll drive the kids; I’ll chaperone the dance; I’ll bake the cookies; I’ll do recess monitor every odd Tuesday; I’ll talk to the bully.”

The joke between us is that our generation had uninvolved parents. For that I am still in therapy. Her generation has over-involved parents. For that her children will be in therapy saying, “She was like shit to a blanket. She was always there.”

HMmmm, but in the end somehow we all turn out to be adults and parents as best that we can be. Even when the questions coming at parents today are far beyond the standard birds and bees ones.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 14th, 2006 at 3:46:32 PM and is filed under JOURNAL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.