The Face and The Voice

Sad Face

I've been getting a lot of this face today. The Sad Face. The Whiny Face. The put-the-tv-on-for-me-again face. And as much as I love this face, and the child attached to it, seeing it brings out my Annoyed Voice. My Frustrated Voice. My you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me-if-I-hear-that-one-more-time voice.

So you can see why the following article I stumbled across brought a wry smile to my face. It read, in part:

"If you are a parent of small children, you know that there are moments of spectacular delight, and you can’t believe you get to be around these little people. But let me be the one who says the following things out loud:

You are not a terrible parent if you can’t figure out a way for your children to eat as healthy as your friend’s children do. She’s obviously using a bizarre and probably illegal form of hypnotism.

You are not a terrible parent if you yell at your kids sometimes. You have little dictators living in your house. If someone else talked to you like that, they’d be put in prison.

You are not a terrible parent if you can’t figure out how to calmly give them appropriate consequences in real time for every single act of terrorism that they so creatively devise.

You are not a terrible parent if you’d rather be at work.

You are not a terrible parent if you just can’t wait for them to go to bed.

You are not a terrible parent if the sound of their voices sometimes makes you want to drink and never stop.

You’re not a terrible parent."

It's always good to hear a voice of reason on days like today. Because we all know parenting can be hard. But sometimes it's just nice to have someone agree with you. They're not trying to make you feel better, or solve your problems, they're just listening, nodding, agreeing. It's good to be in it together.

That being said, excuse while I put the tv on and make myself a drink. (A non-alcoholic one, stop freaking out. Although if The Face shows up too much more today, that may change.)

(I jest.)

(But not really.)

Read the full article, To parents of small children: Let me be the one who says it out loud, here.