Once again I realize...

...being a parent is tough. It's little things that happen (to me at least) that make me wonder how anyone can be a successful parent.

So, our daughter is having a rough morning. She is five years old now and starting feel like she knows it all. She gets going on something and starts thinking my wife and I know nothing. She starts refusing to do things and seems to think that, "But, I don't want to" is a reason to disobey us. We spend the whole morning (before I leave for work - how does my wife deal with this all day?) reprimanding her, telling her she is wrong and finally punishing her (time out in her room).

So, now I'm in the groove. Everything my daughter has done this morning has been wrong. Everything she says is a mistake. So, we're in brushing our teeth together and she refuses to use her new tooth brush. I start to argue with her about it and I'm getting ready start yelling ("Shouldn't do that" says the parent conscience in the back of my head) and preparing a different punishment when I finally catch what she is saying, "The toothbrush tastes funny, Daddy." I take a sniff of the brush and it doesn't smell nice. I've let my daughter use a new tooth brush without washing it first. I get her old toothbrush and everything is OK.

Now I'm worried that she has lost confidence in me. I had to take back what I said in anger and now she's going to be SURE I don't know what I'm talking about. And this seems to happen almost every day. How does my wife do this every day - all day? Either I'm an example of a bad parent or I have to wonder how anyone ever raises children without ruining them (the children) or going mad (the parents). I'll let you know in seven or thirteen years (when our two children, now eleven and five, reach eighteen) if it works out.