I’m an OK parent. I’ve seen really good parents. I’m not them.
I am A Parent, though. There is a pass/fail aspect to it, and I defy any person to say I don’t pass. I think that many parents fail because they are not satisfied with passing; they are determined to be THE BEST PARENT EVAR. And they mess up their kids trying.
There is only one way to demonstrate that you are THE BEST PARENT EVAR – your kid must be Bruce Lee/ Buzz Aldrin/ Tom Brady/ Albert Einstein/ Steve Jobs. Unless of course you’ve got a female of the species, you know, the ballerina/astronaut/CEO/oarswoman/scholar/runway model. There will be no finger painting. You will learn Mandarin Chinese while listening to Bach fugues and eating free range organic watercress sandwiches and drinking only water collected from terne metal gutters from French cathedrals, while waiting for your violin lessons to start.
While wearing a helmet.
I’m not THE BEST PARENT EVAR. My children get three squares a day, and can read and write after a fashion, and their peers don’t point and giggle after they walk by, and other parents ask their children: “Why don’t you invite that Sullivan boy over, he’s nice and polite.” They sleep all night in their beds untroubled by adult cares. We don’t watch slasher movies together. They go outdoors occasionally. They won’t get mumps or whooping cough because they have THE BEST PARENT EVAR who won’t let them be immunized because immunization leads to being average! Like everybody else!
NO WIRE HANGARS!
Sorry, I was channeling a bit. My kids are not extraordinary. You know, like Michael Jackson or The Olsen Wraiths…oops I meant Twins, or Paris Hilton or River Phoenix or Screech or Danny Bonaduce or Gary Coleman or … well, you get the picture.
Anyway, I’d like to set your mind at ease. Take the Sippican Cottage Parenting test. Don’t worry, it’s Pass/Fail. Watch the following video. If it doesn’t look like you and your children, then you’re probably fine.
How’d you do? I thought so.
I wonder how many kids that woman had before she started the act.
11 Responses
Good God!
And I thought that when my Pop made us box each other (with real gloves) he was nuts.
I wonder how she practiced this at home?
P.S. I wonder if she used to have like six or seven kids, now down to two from too many not-quite-near-misses.
I see you missed the joke I inserted at the end there, probably while you were typing.
Great minds think alike.
Nuts. I did miss it.
I’m really quite fair and accurate, if I actually read something all the way through.
I rarely watch things with my mouth open. But that one; yowp!
Lil’ sister was moving around waaay too much, and Mom seemed so, well, intent. Or grimly focused. I’ll bet hubby was well-behaved, too; if he was still around by then.
Yes, dear, right away.
Neil Aldrin? Wow, things must have gotten a little more personal than I thought in those capsules.
Icepick- An egregious, unforced error, since fixed.
I meant old “Buzz” because he had a degree from MIT. And he legally changed his name to “Buzz.” How cool is that?
Little known fact: Michael Collins was born in Italy.
I pass! :o)
I was hoping you would go with Buzz. He’s also the guy that figured out space-walking, IIRC. I did not know he changed his name to Buzz. That is very cool.
Holy $*(&@!!
I could only watch about 10 seconds of that before turning away in horror.
Do I pass?
You pass, of course, but you should keep watching. After a while, mom starts winging cutlery at the little sister, who holds up her stubby little fingers and smiles to show that mom:
Missed me by that much!
Heilige Sheiße!
I had a difficult time watching that. For fifteen seconds. I then had to turn away.