My Mother Will Never Die

I was chatting with some friends on Sunday about parenting and the difference in perspective when you are actually the parent, instead of the child. My friends are at various stages of life and their kids' ages reflect that, so it's fun to talk about what changes and what stays the same as your kiddos grow up. And one of my friend's kids was listening to our conversation. As it happens this young lady is 14 and a full-blown teenager, and after we were all chuckling about something I asked her, "I'll bet you think your parents make lots of mistakes, huh?" She just laughed (as did her mom) and I said, "You don't have to tell us, but we all know--you're going to do things differently when YOU'RE the mom, right?" She said, "Oh yeah."

LOL! How well I remember saying the same thing as a teenager. I knew exactly what my parents were screwing up with regard to my upbringing (and my siblings'), and by golly *I* would never say/do what they did! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! As proof of God's great sense of humor, here are a few things I have found myself saying which I distinctly recall swearing I would NEVER SAY as a mom.

• Do I need to stop this car and pull over?
• How many times do I have to tell you to {do X}?
• Are you listening to me?
• If you do that one more time, you'll be sorry! (talk about an empty threat...the most meaningless threat of punishment there is the unexplained punishment)
• Don't make me come in there!
• There are hungry children who would be grateful to eat that dinner. (again, totally meaningless...because any smart child will instantly offer to give it to them!)
• Because I said so, that's why.
• Stop teasing your brother. (says the woman who used to tease HER brother)
• If these toys aren't cleaned up in five minutes I'm throwing them away. (to be fair it's usually DH who says this...I put toys into time-out if they aren't tidied up)
• This is your last chance.

I know there are more which I can't remember right now. And as our kids get older, more and more old chestnuts that I used to hate hearing as a kid will be spouting forth from my lips. Is it any wonder my parents are so well entertained when they visit us? Payback is hell!