Parenting is like Jell-O…..

Sometimes you have to be firm and sometimes you just have to accept that things will be shaky! Sometimes it’s clear and other times it’s not so clear.

I know most of you now think I’ve lost my mind (and I have but that’s got nothing to do with this) comparing parenting which is a serious business to a wiggly desert! But I recently realized that most of my life is completely wrapped up in issues that involve the parenting of a chronically ill child. I never have the luxury of stopping to think about mundane parenting tasks like disciplining, scheduling play dates, spending quality time with each child (What is quality time? If someone wouldn’t mind sending me a definition it would be greatly appreciated. Something tells me waiting in line at the ER doesn’t count….) and the list goes on….

So today I thought I’d ponder these things a bit, mostly because I have a teenager and sometimes I think parenting a teenager is even more challenging than parenting a child with medical needs! Don’t get me wrong Ellie is a great kid but she’s a teenager and a girl -- this is a lethal combination at best. As the mother of a teenager I see myself turning into my mother (gasp!) and my daughter turning into me – I remember the same conversations I have with Ellie being played out in another kitchen, in another time, but with the same door slamming and shouts of “But all my friends…” and responses of “If all your friends jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge…” (Oh please tell me I didn’t just say that!). So parenting is like Jell-O because although I have turned into a firm disciplinarian (read dictator) I’ve also learned that sometimes I need to pick my battles. I’m sure this makes me as wobbly as Jell-O in Ellie’s eyes, my inconsistencies boggle her mind: Why do I let her do this but not that? Why is it sometimes yes and other times no? You see Ellie is really pretty smart, she sees the shakiness of my Jell-O, I mean parenting. Parenting is a far greater challenge than any of us probably ever imagined, although there’s plenty of on the job training you’re never really prepared for the next stunt your kids pull!

Maybe I wasn’t cut out for motherhood, maybe I should have stuck with puppies……