Even after nearly twenty years of parenting, I do NOT think of myself as an expert. Instead, I think of myself as still a parent in training. I try to draw on experts and channel the wisdom of those parenting sages who have gone before me. Usually it is a combination of Erma Bombeck and Bill Cosby—although I do tend to lean toward the feminine perspective…
I think we all need a mentor—even if it an imaginary one. After all, when we’re deep in the parenting trenches and faced with one of those many situations where we are completely out of our element—who can we turn to? I think this is why parenting books, articles, magazines, and television programs are so popular. In my home town, we have a class that is offered at our community college and it is taped and then broadcast on public television. People bring their real-life problems to the class and the teacher helps them figure out what to do. Since I can’t really take every real-life parenting problem I have to a panel of parenting experts, I have had to invent my own experts and carry them around in my head. I ask myself, what would Bill Cosby do here?
Humor, firmness, consistency, letting go, or digging in—it usually comes down to one of these five choices or a combination. It is how I’ve managed to get through all sorts of parenting and family adventures I never imagined when I was that fresh-faced optimistic young parent. Do I say “yes” or “no”? Do I allow for some negotiations or do I remind my children they are “technically homeless” as Bill Cosby reminds us parents? When in doubt, that wonderful humor—the Bill Cosby/Erma Bombeck, family life is really hilarious humor is what gets me through the toughest times.
Also: Who’s The Boss Around Here Anyway?
When Do I Get To Be Smarter Again?
I Thought You Were Everybody’s Mother