Do you have to be a hypocrite to be a good parent?
The snowplow woke me up at 5 a.m. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I went downstairs to hand wash the dish build-up. (Broken dishwasher - http://fatfamilyotherfwords.blogspot.com/2009/12/frenzy-of-broken-stuff.html ) At that time of day, there’s not much on TV – Roseanne, Angel or Crossing Jordan. I chose Roseanne. Always thought she was hysterical … partly because she is … and partly because my ex hated her. (Do the honesty points outweigh the pettiness debits in a remark like that?)
In this episode, Becky (the good girl) is in a yearbook photo flipping the bird. Suddenly, Becky’s friends think she’s cool and Roseanne is a bad parent. As expected, Becky is punished, but Roseanne and Dan did stuff like that at her age. Are they hypocrites?
If you were a perfect priss, then you may not have these problems. I wasn’t. I’ve tried not to sweat the small stuff. But when the small stuff gets big, would I have been better to catch it early?
EXAMPLE: Early in his junior year, my son wrecked a 30-year old pick up. The passengers were shook up, but no one was hurt. He felt horrible and I thought that was enough. 5 or 6 weeks later, he wrecked my car. Turned left in front of an on-coming vehicle and totaled it. If I had come down on him for the truck, maybe he wouldn’t have. But I had car mishaps at his age. Would being a hypocrite have been the right decision? I’ll never know.
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