Parenthood

The responsibility of raising kids can be overwhelming to say the least. Unfortunately they don’t come with instruction manuals, often making it feel like the blind are leading the blind – just hoping they turn out alright. We want to provide them with opportunities that we never had, and do our best to achieve those things for them…In any case; it’s not easy raising kids.

Growing up, the furniture my parents owned looked like something you would find in the discard pile at the Goodwill (or a college frat house). I received the hand-me-downs from my older brother (it was rare to get a pair without patches on the knees), as well as his old toys. All of this led me to ask “Dad, why can’t we have nice things?” He smiled, crouched down to my level, and explained that “as a boy, it was in my nature to be destructive.”

Looking back, he was absolutely right…when I discovered a permanent red marker, I colored ‘blood’ on all of my toys…when I discovered fire, I lit all of my toys on fire in the house…when I found a hammer, I smashed my matchbox cars…when my brother and I fought, we broke lamps…when I discovered that gas was flammable, I lit it (and our fence) on fire…It’s no wonder why they waited for me to leave for college before totally remodeling the house, and getting new furniture…

Now that I have kids, owning ‘nice things’ is totally out of the question, because, like me, they destroy stuff. For instance, Emma scratched the arm of the couch down to the wood frame…

Caleb broke a vase that my friend Johan made for me in college…

They both took part in decapitating a toy mouse…

Deep down, we still love them, so we read them bedtime stories…

And take family Christmas photos…

Despite the destructive nature of kids, it is our job, as parents, to love and nurture our children – and maybe, just maybe, everything will turn out just right.

Lesson’s learned:

1. We can’t have ‘nice things’ until the kids move out
2. Love trumps the destructive nature of kids any day