!7: Munchkin Inc Quick: November 2011

!±8± Top 10 Parenting Complaints

After 20 years as a parent educator - there's nothing I haven't heard and very little that surprises me. What interests and inspires me is how much we parents have in common with each other. And as a mom who raised 5, highly independent and self-sufficient kids and as a parent educator who has talked with hundreds of thousands of parents about life with their kids, I feel qualified to share this fun list of what I consider the "Top 10 Parenting Complaints" Enjoy.

10. Kids who push, hit, throw, kick and bite. What the heck? Don't they know what "use your words" means? Oh wait.... 9. Kids who say things like, stupid, shut up, idiot, dummy, butt-head. Yep, those would be the words. 8. Kids who can not, will not, and do not cooperate. To complicate matters, parents also expect the kids to cooperate willingly and with smiles on their faces. 7. Kids who ignore their parents. How dare those little munchkins completely ignore, walk away from, cover their ears or start to sing when we have something really, really, REALLY important to tell them again, and again, and again. 6. Kids who noodle, stall, get distracted and act like they don't have to be somewhere important. Like, yesterday. 5. Kids who think they no longer need naps. Can someone PLEASE explain to me why little kids won't sleep and teenagers will only sleep? 4. Kids who want to stay in the PJ's all day or wear the ballet costume to school for a week or refuse to wash their favorite pair of wind pants - ever. First impressions are important right? Even when they are 3 - right? After all, you never get a second chance to make a first impression - right? 3. Kids who refuse to go along with your plans and try and keep you trapped at home all day long. Come on already. Look how damn nice it is outside. Let's go, let's go, let's go! 2. Kids who yell, manhandle, annoy, bother or wake up the new baby. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We want them involved with their new sibling, but what don't they understand about - BACK OFF?? 1. Kids who refuse to eat what we put in front of them, sleep when we want them to sleep or potty train when we are ready for them to be done with the diapering. Damn kids anyway.

When you boil it all down, this is the list of the most common parenting challenges. Just for fun, for the next 24 hours, when you are considering taking one of these small annoyances and turning it into a serious problem, that needs immediate attention, instead - take a breath, look into the eyes of your beloved child and ask yourself - is it really such a big challenge? And if the answer is no, then let it go. Just this once, let it go.