By Sarah Chana Radcliffe
Of course you want to protect your child from your spouse's less than optimum parenting... You may not like your spouse and you may not like how your spouse parents your child. But your child NEEDS your spouse because your child needs each of her parents. Therefore, never disparage your spouse to your child. She isn't your confidante. She isn't on your "side." She always right there in the middle, needing both of her parents. Gift her with that.
One child wants this, another wants that, a third is waiting for you to... You're busy - working, cleaning, cooking, helping one child and then another...but still another is crying that he's bored and another is shouting for you to come help with the schoolwork and one is staaarrrvvving - you can't meet all their needs at once and you're feeling like you're failing to be the perfect parent you want to be. Good news: the perfect parent isn't SUPPOSED to jump right up and always fulfill his or her children's desires. The perfect parent allows children to WAIT, to build up their "patience muscles," to gain perspective that they aren't actually the center of the universe and certainly aren't meant to be served by their parents. Go ahead and tell an impatient child calmly, quietly and confidently, "I'll be with you as soon as I can; right now I'm busy. Please occupy yourself until I arrive." And feel GOOD about it.
