It might be just me but parenting seems to have been simpler when the kids were little. When they were infants the 3 questions (hungry? diaper? tired?) seemed to cover 98% of any of the issues that arose. In my naivety I thought it would get easier as they grew older and in many ways it did. The kids were able to communicate (or not) as they chose to. Although the questions/problems/circumstances became much more complex we kept our nose to the grindstone and made it through the years. We were excited for the time that they would “grow up”, the parenting questions would come to a close and we would get to enjoy our kids as adults.
This brings me to a conversation from June when one of my kids called me in hysterics to recount an event:
Let me set the scene for you: The house is empty. Piper is snuggled beside me and I am settling down to enjoy the solitude with a still hot cup of coffee. The phone rings.
“Mom I had to tell you what just happened at work! Fred just arrived in a panic. HE called his mom freaking out! I have to tell you about it” …. note my Kid is uncontrollably laughing into the phone.
Fred’s opening sentence to his mother was “Mom can you get rabies from a snapping turtle?”
It seems that Fred being a good turtle citizen had attempted to aid a snapping turtle crossing the road on his way to work and been given a nip for his efforts.
(side note – snapping turtles have amazing peripheral reach. Make sure that you have watched a few YouTube videos before attempting a turtle rescue. Those dinosaurs move fast and will bite! Here is a link for you in case you are interested 😉
Let’s get back to the conversation between Fred and his Mom.
“Mom – call your vet friend. Ask them what to do? Yes I washed it out….Yes I put a bandage on it….”
I can imagine Fred’s Mom’s side of the conversation. Being proud of him for trying to save a turtle, being concerned about the bite, being pleased to have a relationship that her adult child still feels comfortable reaching out to her and all the while wondering What the Serious F? When did I become an expert on snapping turtle bites?
That my friends is Parenting in a nutshell! Somehow we all will make it through doing the best that we can tackling whatever parenting throws at us. The goal is to get our kids to the other side of childhood and create relatively unscathed, resilient adults who still feel comfortable enough that they will call with a problem but perhaps know us well enough to not do it before the 2nd morning cup of Coffee.