PARENTING: There is no book written to foresee every experience…

I will say that I thoroughly enjoy being a parent and feel it is one of my greatest accomplishments. A few months ago my son and I created exact production targets for him to be able to go to a three day event with his friends. He worked his butt off to make these targets but in the end did not fulfill his end of the bargain. It is the toughest part of the job to uphold these agreements! I swear to God there is a secret negotiations conference that my kids have gone to without my knowledge. I have been run down to tears because I want them to have everything and I want to provide it all for them. But, there is a voice in the back of my head that tells me that it will set them up for failures as adults and teaches them to be reasonable with goals and targets.

But, life is a game and what’s the point of living if you cannot create games. His production was not suffering and it is very possible that on Tuesday he will meet all requirements that were expected by yesterday. So instead we decided that he and his brother can still have a piece of the deal. One had a math test yesterday and was able to arrange taking it in the morning instead of last period. At 1:10p we wrapped up our day, set off on the ferry and we drove all the way to Vancouver, BC so they could go for the evening to see their favorite band in concert.

My husband and I went to dinner and had a walk around this beautiful city. We arrived home at 2:30am with delight and exhaustion. The boys could not stop thanking us for the evening, they said it was the best night they’ve had. Both boys in school the next day and we carry on with production.

I want my children to understand the concept of work hard/play hard. Set goals and achieve them, don’t make excuses and never reward something that wasn’t set as the target. It was a win and I felt it was enough to share with you.

~ Sunny