Inspiring the Next Generation

I drive carpool. Every friggin' morning. Our carpool consists of 3 kids -- Elyse (my 12-year-old, 6th grade daughter), Cadence (her friend, 6th grade), and Jackson (neighbor, 8th grade.) Grades came out on Friday, and Elyse and Jackson are both on some level of restriction.

Now, I don't know what Elyse says to her friends about her mean mom, but she is smart enough to not complain about this restriction to me. In fact, she actually admitted that I went lighter on her than she expected. Jackson, this morning, was being a bit high maintenance. So we had a conversation. It was one-sided. They don't know how to take me.

"Dude! You seem to be under the misguided impression that you are the center of your parents' world!"

"Stephanie! That's so cruel! Are you telling Elyse that she doesn't matter?"

"I have a life. And Elyse knows that. If she plays her cards right, she gets to become an adult who has a life. What do you think you have to look forward to about being a grown-up? Hounding your kids all the time about their grades? What kind of fun do you think that is?"

Laughter.

"You're a hobby. You're a hobby that your parents enjoy, but man, wouldn't that suck if all you had to look forward to was growing up to get a job and push your kids around. Elyse is a Wilde chick in training, and she knows it. That means I have a life, and hopefully she's developing a life."

Elyse agreed. Then there was discussion about Hobby Lobby. As in building kids.

I'm sure that again, this secures my nomination for mother of the year. But ya know, it's worth a rant! Even though I know this conversation puts me squarely in the camp of that newspaper parenting guy that I hate.