There and Back Again

Today, I read a hilarious blog post on Motherhood WTF and it reminded me of an incident I experienced during my adventures in parenting I like to call “Vindication.”

Two years ago, my two eldest children refused to clean their playroom. Nothing I did or said would convince them to clean their playroom. I would ask, threaten, yell, bribe, punish, reward and nothing I did would get them to clean their playroom.

Finally, I called my foster mom and said to her; “I’m sorry for my teenage bedroom.”

My housekeeping skills aren’t exactly top notch. It’s been something I’ve been working on for several years and I’m finally getting into a routine where my house is actually clean on a regular basis (unless of course you came over right now. I have to rebuild the house after the children go to bed hahaha). So, my teenage bedroom was a mess of clothes, Beanie Babies and posters of hunks. Nothing was put away the way it should be. Nothing. My parents rode me constantly about it and I never listened.

So, my apologetic phone call brought about all sorts of giggles from my foster mom.

“Not so fun, is it?”

Nope, it sure isn’t. I think every parent has that moment of “You finally get yours” when their child has to admit that they sound like their parent. I know I quote my foster mom on a regular basis. Clearly she taught me well, after all, I find most of my parenting style was taken from her example.

Someday, I’ll get my big parenting vindication, when one of my daughters calls me and tells me the same thing; that I was right about one of our biggest mother/daughter squabbles. Until then, I’ll just remind myself that glorious day is coming and its going to feel amazing.