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August 20, 2009

Being a parent is about growing up

Ron Booth

DUNCAN — The first day of school is always a trying time. Last year, I left early because I didn’t want Tully to see me cry.

This year, I stayed for an hour or so, like many other parents, hoping to ease the transition, both for Tully and myself. As it turns out, we’re still adjusting a week later. We’re getting there, though.

Tully likes for me to walk him into the building each morning, and I like to walk Tully in, but I know for his own sake that he going to have to start going it alone.

Tully is a big fan of his dad, but it comes at a price. Thursday morning Tully was still getting teary-eyed when I was dropping him off.

The bottom line is that being a kid is tough, and so is being a parent.

Over the last 5 1/2 years, I’ve been taught several valuable lessons by my children.

The first is a child sometimes just wants the comfort of something, whether it be a blanket, a pacifier, a thumb or a sippy cup. There have been times that the Booth family has been leaving town and made it as far as Marlow only to have to turn around and go back for a “treasured” item. I can guarantee you that the time spent going back was well worth it in the end.

The second lesson, which ties into the first, is that a child is much more complex. There is a reason for everything a child does. A child acts out of honesty, and, sometimes, that can be just painful as a parent.

When a child tells you something looks “funny” it means it looks funny. If you ask a child for an opinion on something, be careful because they are going to tell you the truth.

A child is a sponge. If you get out of line as a parent, then you can bet your child is going to get out of line. I’m working on a problem involving what I say in regards to other drivers. I realized this was a problem when Tully started yelling at passing cars. There is no lower feeling in the world, to me, than having to say to a child, “Daddy shouldn’t have said that,” and then having to explain that Dad is nothing more than a big dummy.

The last thing that I learned is that no parent is perfect. We can try to do as good a job as possible, but we are all going to have the occasional hiccup. It’s life.

You learn from the mistakes and head forward. Most people move ahead at a good pace, so as to distance themselves from the mistake as quickly as possible. However, when you start the rapid pace, another thing becomes evident, and that is that mistakes make the most lasting impressions on children. You have to take the time to fully humiliate yourself so your child doesn’t make the same mistakes.

Basically, it all boils down to growing up. It is tough to do for children, and it is especially tough for parents.

But we all have to at some point.



— Ron Booth is the managing editor for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 166, or via e-mail at ron.booth@duncanbanner.com.

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