Mistakes first-time parents make

The other night, I was chatting over margaritas with my friend Lacey. Lacey is young and has no children. She is not married, and she and her boyfriend of four years are "thinking about" getting engaged. She is one of those girls that girls like me used to love to hate. She does everything in the right order: college, a job, a boyfriend, an apartment, a ring, an engagement party, a wedding, and THEN a baby. I have since relegated my hatred for those girls as envy, one of those seven deadlies. I love Lacey. She is smart and sassy and unpretentious in so many ways, and very realistic about the demands of my life compared to hers. I think that is mostly why I can still call her my friend: she gets that I can't meet her on ten minutes notice for a drink or even a cup of coffee. She gets that having more than a ten minute conversation with an adult is a cherished and scarce happening in my life. So having drinks and conversation the other night was amazing.

Fortunately, we got on a topic I love. Helicopter parents. The swooping, meddling PTA parents who have nothing better to do than try to make their kids' lives unrealisticly easy. The dads who call their sons "Buddy" and "Sport" and do things like coach their soccer teams and then have all the little shits over after the game to swim in their pools, the moms who share clothes with their daughters and think that "quality time" is looking for new eye-shadows and designer jeans on sale. Someone wise once said to me "I will be my kids' friend when they are 25. For now, I'm Mom, and don't you forget it!" (Thanks, Mom~Love you!)

I cannot agree more. Kids need to understand that parents are not always going to bail them out. If they act like shits, they will be treated accordingly. Parents who makes excuses for their children are fostering this new breed of child who has no respect or fear of authority. I call them "Shits." The parents AND the children.

The best compliment a mother can get is that she has well-behaved children, as far as I am concerned. And when my kids come home from places like sleep-away camp and their grandparents' houses and people tell me how well-behaved, respectful of adults, and polite they are, my heart swells with pride. I feel like I really am teaching them something. All the yelling is really working!!!!