The Joy of Parenthood...Huh?

Jenny and I recently met a very nice couple trying desperately to start a family. For them, traditional and scientific methods of getting pregnant were a bust, so, no surprise, they decided to adopt. These extraordinary efforts were costing them thousands of dollars, just to get one stinkin’ kid.

“Someone needs to sit these people down,” I said, “and tell them they can actually be happy in life without any kids.” We have friends with no offspring, and they seem perfectly happy, living life without the many frustrations that accompany the parent trap.

So, by now you're thinking that I wish I had never had my three kids, but nothing is further from the truth.

Frustrations aside, they're pretty amazing people. Number 1 is a sweet 14 year-old girl who’ll be going to one of the best high schools in the entire state of Illinois this fall. Number 2 is a mostly happy boy who loves sports and aced his final seventh grade report card. Number 3 is an honor roll student who always wants to tag along wherever we go.

Amazing as they may be, they’re still kids, and part of being a kid is learning on the fly, doing things that we as intelligent, logical and mature humans consider outrightly stupid. The one word that comes to mind is “broken.” Broken is a word that aptly describes much of the childhood experience, referring to teeth and bones, toys, furniture, windows, shoelaces, electronic devices, skin, friendships, backpacks, eyeglasses, and ____________(fill in the blank).

It’s been said by many scholarly moms and pops that what our kids do to us is just payback for what we did to our parents. That may be the truth. Thinking back to my youth, and some of the havoc I wreeked growing up, it’s a small miracle that my parents still talk to me today.

To that nice couple working on number one I say this – when the frustrations start and things start to break, give me a call and we’ll meet for a few drinks.