This month has really given me a huge dose of what it means to be a parent. What it means to put your child first, what it means to get down on your knees and pray for them and what it means to fight for their welfare everyday. And mostly, what it means to make difficult choices.
A few blogs down you can see the post about Sophie throwing temper tantrums. That was kind of the beginning of it all. A couple weeks after I posted that (and endured plenty more of those tantrums) I got news that her daycare was closing down for a week. I scrambled to find a daycare that would take her temporarily. Thankfully I found a great substitute with an interesting rule. No sugar. No sweets, no gummies, no fruit roll ups and NO JUICE. Guess what? The tantrums stopped cold. I all of a sudden had a different child on my hands.
I think that it's appropriate to insert a great big DUH right about here. I know, I know. I mentally chastise parents all day long for feeding their children shaved ice for breakfast while on vacation and then acting bewildered when those same children grow a second head by lunch time. But I guess that I never really put it together. Greg and I had already been considering a day care switch for reasons that had more to do with the price of gas. But the sugar thing was icing on the cake. It's hard to ask any daycare to not give your child juice when all the other children are getting it. I don't want my child to think that she is being punished because she keeps hearing "your mommy said you can't have that" all day long. So we gave a 30 day notice that we would be switching daycares. This was difficult because the person in charge has been a big part of Sophie's life. And we could tell that this person was and still is very much offended. I don't want to hurt anybodies feelings, but I have to-have to put Sophie first.
And if that wasn't enough we might be needing to make that same choice again with our living situation. Or at least enforcing some uncomfortable rules. Sophie has been saying nasty words and phrases to the other kids at daycare that I promise we never taught her. But I know who did and they live next door. And again that choice will offend more people.
So I guess that's what it means to be a parent. To unapologetically (not really a word- I know) choose to put your child's welfare above the desire of others. I'm in charge of raising the best daughter that I know how. That's my job and responsibility above everything else. I can only wonder what it will be like as she gets older and makes friends, joins clubs and plays sports. I pray that God gives me the strength to make the difficult choices for her and the wisdom to teach her how to make them for herself when I'm not there.
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