New Parenting Theory

I have been learning a whole lot about myself in these past four months since Clive's birth. And obviously I have been learning a lot about parenting. As time goes on, the way I look at things adjusts and changes. Some of the things I have realized have really helped me get through the challenges, especially with the difficult age Zara is currently going through.

So, I have a new parenting theory. I am sure I am not the first person to discover this, but it feels brand new and illuminating to me!

The abstract: Kids are crazy.

Should you care to read on, here is the elaboration.

If adults acted how kids act, they would be put into an institution that would help them and be fully equipped and prepared and trained to deal with them and provide counseling to improve their behavior and worldview. You know, help them stop doing things like throwing food, pooping in their pants, jumping up and down for hours on end, running into the street, hitting people, repeating every word they hear, throwing themselves on the ground when they aren't given fruit snacks immediately or when someone takes their pen away, and other crazy activities. And when the counselors and professionals have done their job and the person is "cured" or whatever, they release them into the world.

Consider this:





Cute and funny for kids, totally crazy for adults.

So, as parents, you are given totally crazy little people to take care of and be counselors for. But most of the time, parents have no training or experience to prepare them to be counselors to these crazy people. You just have to do it. You have to be their counselors and teach them over the years how to eventually be normal and functioning, and talk them through their crazy times, and in the meantime try to control their craziness as much as possible so you can go out in public. And then hopefully by the time they're 18 you have successfully cured them of their Crazy and can release them from your institution/home.

And this type of crazy is often contagious, especially to the unprepared, so as parents it's difficult to not get a little crazy yourself.


This has helped me immensely! Now Clive, he's little enough where I don't have to remind myself that he's currently crazy. But Zara, she's getting big, and frustrating. She can say basically anything, so she seems old enough to me sometimes where I forget she's still crazy. When I remind myself of this, it is A LOT easier to get through the frustrating two-year-old-crazy moments. I just look at her and think "OK, she's still crazy, I have to teach her about how to not be crazy. It's gonna take a while."

I recommend applying this theory to your life as your children get older, unless you already have and this is the great secret of parenting that all you veteran Crazy Kid Counselors (parents) already know.

And that is my advice to up and coming parents. You might be giving birth to a baby, but you will very soon have a crazy little person, and you should remember that.




**I probably shouldn't bother, but because tone is often hard to catch online, just in case it's not obvious...I'm being pretty sarcastic here. And sorry if you think using the term "crazy" here is wrong... but... I'm still using it.**