Good Parenting

I have been a parent for 4 years. Intellectually I knew it would be difficult. Lack of sleep, diapers, lack of sleep, perpetual messes, oh, and lack of sleep.

I hadn't counted on the misbehavior though. "Good" kids are a product of "good" parenting, right? I had never considered the possibility that I would be anything but a "good" parent. My parents are exceptional parents after all: teetotallers, churchgoers, consistent voters, and compassionate, understanding listeners who'd accepted every rogue-boyfriend and random-wardrobe choice I'd ever made. I'd had the model of parental perfection and saw no reason why those same edicts wouldn't work on my own kids.

Eerrr (insert annoying Family Feud "X" sound, ca. Richard Dawson era.)




Raleigh



Austin



 



I know the dangers of comparing siblings to one another, but it wasn't until Raleigh (our second child) was born that I began to understand that the way we parent didn't determine our children's natures. Raleigh was/is easy. He listens when you ask him to do something. He smiles, meets the gaze of and says hello to people we meet. He eats any- and everything. Behaviorally he is Austin's total opposite. 

After multiple doctors, therapists and diagnoses, I have a much better understanding of why Austin behaves the way he does, and we have all learned coping skills to get us through the more difficult moments.  It is a work in progress, but I feel like we have a strategy...and hopefully that earns us at least a few "good" parent points.