Stepping Back...

Okay, I'll admit it. I"m a control freak.

I do believe that I am the cause of 99% of my frustration and it is hard at times when you want things to go a certain way and then they don't. Those of you with children will of course understand that being a control freak and being a parent don't necessarily go hand in hand. At least not without some difficulty.

There are those weeks where everything seems to go awry despite my plans. Due to my teaching schedule, I am the one who spends the majority of the time with our children during the summer months. My husband is also there quite a bit with our kids, but not as much as me as he works a steady schedule all year long. When those "special" days hit, I can be known to greet him at the door when he arrives home from work with a forced grin and the words, "They are yours...BYE!!" I've had it, I've hit my wall...I need that break and luckily he's always more than willing to give me the space to just breathe.

When I return from the much needed reprieve I always come home expecting to hear what a rough time they had. Never. It's always, "We had a great time! They were easy...they went right to bed without any hassle."

What????

I get crying, I get fits, I get tantrums...and he gets, "Good night daddy..." and lights out? Now how fair is that?????

You see, I think my husband has a different approach and tonight I got to see it first hand. I decided to try an experiment where for the evening I would just fly second fiddle and let him be the lead (which was very hard, let me tell you...VERY HARD!) and it was amazing. The kids did fine. They stayed up later than normal, they ran crazy in their underwear outside, they ate a dinner of chips, cheese and crackers...they got to just BE. I was left asking the question, "What the heck have I been doing wrong this whole time?"

The answer? NOTHING.

You see, kids are resilient creatures who learn to adapt to different situations. What works for "daddy" doesn't necessarily work for "mommy"...nor should it. I believe that from a young age kids learn how to "be" with the many different people in their lives. It used to drive me absolutely crazy that my husband could get my kids to behave in ways I couldn't, but now I see it is just different for him with them than it is for me. And to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way.

So, tonight I am thankful that we are all different and that my kids have that variance in their lives because it gives us all a much needed break. I do believe that my husband and I need to be on the same "page" for some decisions, but there is plenty of room for both of our personalities and parenting styles.

Still, I'm not ashamed to say that I am a bit secretly relieved when my kids throw a temper tantrum for him as well and that he hits his "wall" at times, too.

It's just kind of nice to know that we all have our moments.