The NO Mom

Shakin things up with a new font today. I know I'm gettin' crazy. Hold on to your hats!

Have you ever had one of those moments when, as a parent, you know what you should do, but somehow that high-school-kid in you comes out and relents to the peer pressure of another parent, or to the begging of your own child? I had one of those moments last weekend. One of those "life lesson" moments - 'cause ya know you keep learnin' those till ya die.

I've become the "NO Mom" and Big Daddy is the "YES Dad". The brood knows to ask Big Daddy if they want a "yes" on whatever it is they want to do - use power tools, jump from high places, host a sleepover with 15 of their closest friends - all while he's at work, of course (but that's a whole other blog post). I, as you may have guessed, say
NO to all these types of things. But what I learned over the weekend is that I am not the "NO mom", I am the "KNOW Mom". I know what can happen if you turn a 7 year old boy loose with an electric screwdriver. I know that I will be on the way to the ER if I allow the neighborhood children to climb in the tall tree whose bottom limb can't be reached unless perched upon a 7-foot ladder (which the pool people so generously left right by the fort for the kids to use).

I won't go into the actual situation that caused my revelation about being the "Know Mom", but I will tell you this: Mama always says, "Follow your first mind." If your instinct tells you not to do something - don't do it - no matter how much the kids beg (or you wish your parents had relented to the same request when you were your child's age) or how much other parents pressure you. My other revelation was this - What kind of parent doesn't respect the wishes of another parent? I said No! the first time, and I meant No!