Why I Should Write A Parenting Book

There was a time, oh so long ago, that I read a lot of parenting books. More like, tons. I was determined to do it right. Or, at least give my darned hardest effort at making it work.

But then Child #2 reached the age of 1.

Oh my, my, my.

I would take my 2 little children to the grocery store and use my sweetest, good mother voice. I would try to use the most righteous of disciplines that the books had taught me. I would not use anger because that's what the parenting class taught me.

And then Child #2 would run down the store isle, with her arm held out low. And knock every. single. item. off the shelves. Everything scattered like dominoes. She would growl (loud) at any parent who would try to intervene and halt her tornado-making.

That's when I stopped reading parenting books.

But, every now and then, some random tidbit from my reading days pops into my head---  I once read about a family who would take turns making impromptu speeches during dinner. The parents wanted their children to grow up to be well spoken and confident. So, during the evening meal, they would randomly assign one of the kids to stand and give a 2-3 minute speech on a random topic. Impressive, yes?

Well, this little 'good parent' tidbit came to my mind yesterday and I listened to Children #2 and #3 have a heated debate about....wait for it....The Bachelor.

Child #3: "If you get so annoyed with this show, why do you even watch it?"

Child #2: "Because it's awesome. But these girls are so stupid. I like watching The Bachelorette more because boys don't act this stupid."

(pause while watching TV...)

Child #2: "There's too much kissing on this show!"

Child #3: "Duh. That's what they're supposed to do! You have to kiss someone to figure out if you love them."

Well spoken? Check.
Confidence? Check.

Isn't it totally obvious that I never needed those silly parenting books?

***

For the last few days, Child #1 has been working on the 'Egg Drop' assignment for her Physics class. We've done this project in the past, but this year's requirements were more tricky. I didn't really pay much attention to the details, other than part of the container/packaging had to be 50% air.

She's been dropping stuff over the banister.

This was a gift sack, filled with rice and the egg inside.
The packaging exploded, but the egg did not. Rice went everywhere.

Last night she started experimenting again. I think marshmallows were involved. When I was in my room, I heard her say, "Huh. That egg broke."

I just shut my door and went to bed. At 8:37 pm.

Maybe I should write my own parenting book.