Rules Are For Fakin

Rules. As a child you resent them and as a parent you are in a position to make them. I had a lot of rules growing up and I loved to announce that the day I turned eighteen I would be able to do whatever I wanted. Right, because that is how the world works. My dad would calmly explain to me that adults still have to follow rules, but I was not convinced. I fully believed he was part of the conspiracy of adult rule makers. I was a brat. Of course I did grow up and come to the sad realization that rules still exist. Except now I can appreciate the need for law and order (and I do not mean the TV show that is on forty times each day - that is just unnecessary). Case in point - I am very glad that people are not allowed to break into my house. I am being facetious but let us be honest, rules can be arbitrary and more often than not, exceptions exist. In fact, I did break into my own house today when my dear husband could not find the keys (they were in his pocket). Maybe President Obama will read this and invite me to the White House for a beer. How about the rule that makes eighteen-year olds adults in the first place. Not that some eighteen-year olds are not mature, but let's just say if I had to come up with ten words to describe myself at that age, "adult" would not make the list.

So what do I think of rules now that I am a parent? It is the first time in my life that I have had the power to make rules for someone else. Like many people, I had rigid ideas as to what type of parent I would become. Be honest, who among us has not looked askance at a child throwing a temper tantrum in the toy aisle at Target, or witnessed a mother giving her child his fifth cookie and shuddered inwardly, positive that OUR children would be little angels who would follow all of our carefully laid out rules. The perspective is slightly different when your child is the one screaming. I figured I would never resort to cosleeping for fear of starting an unbreakable habit. And I didn't - until my poor baby got his six-month shots and was miserable with a slight fever. After getting up and going into his room twice an hour until two A.M., I wised up and broke my own rule. He slept peacefully between us for the rest of the night. Hey, life happens. Admittedly, I am somewhat of a schedule Nazi, but sometimes Aiden misses a nap, he is not always asleep by seven, I am never asleep by ten - you get the picture. We have to amend our rules as we go along, and sometime we just have to break them ourselves. Join me while we fumble our way through raising our children, thinking we have it all figured out until the next tooth, the next sleepless night, the next tantrum, when we are reminded that we are basically making it up as we go along. We do the best we can in the situations presented to us. I am lucky - my son is only six months old. One day he will question the rules and even break them (gasp). Some rules will remain set in stone (hey this is my fantasy) while others will be more fluid. Will my child call my bluff, throw a wrench in my plans, and question my authority? Of course. I dread the day when I am caught unprepared, when I do not have an answer. When that day comes, I can always result to "Because I said so" translation: "I do not know why I am enforcing this rule, but follow it anyway".