On Asparagus

The Cincinnati Enquirer, our dying, nearly defunct dinosaur of a newspaper here in The Queen City has two excellent writers; Paul Daugherty, an award-winning sports writer with a heart of gold, and Krista Ramsey, a beat writer who covers religion and community.  A recent article by her, 'Parenting's Beautiful, Terrible Risks' really touched me, one sentence in particular:

"A parent's job, from the beginning, is to basically put himself out of a job."

I think that really nails it, doesn't it?  It distills everything into one succinct point.

It made me think of this picture:

They are about twenty-one months old and looking out into the big old world outside their living-room window with such wonder, excitement and, how should I say it... purpose.

And we, the parents, the "big guys" as N always calls groups of parents, are the ones entrusted with showing them they way, preparing them for what lies ahead, smoothing the road, padding the corners, and, sometimes hiding the truth.

What has this got to do with asparagus?  Nothing.  Everything.  I am not sure.  The other night I made asparagus and the boys loved it.  They also love spinach.  I think I forgot to tell them they weren't supposed to like these things.

I know I have so much to tell them, and a lot of I don't want to.  I really wonder sometimes about how they see the world unfolding in front of them.  I said to N the other day, I think maybe for the first time:  "Well, life's not always fair."  He looked at me with an incredulous face and said, "Well, why not?"

I didn't have an answer.

In frustration the other day, I said to Z, "Everything's not always fun and games, you know."  He got his Spock eyebrow up and said, "Well, why not?"

I still didn't have an answer.

Life should be fair and everything should be fun and games all the time.  What can we do, we Big Guys, to make that so?

From Marci's '...things you don't expect to hear from the backseat...'

"There is no Mercy Rule in Connect Four."

I wish there was because the boys always spank me at that stupid game...