The Parents’ Curse Works - Page 2

Diapers, daycare, sleep deprivation, head wounds, action figures in the toilet, and dead toads in the laundry - these were all easier and cheaper to deal with than what would later plague my life and test my resolve.

I will not share my most perilous (and much more interesting) parenting experiences in the interest of protecting my children’s privacy. Also, I want to make sure it all remains quiet until my grandchildren want to know more than what their parents are willing to tell them.

I believe it was humorist Sam Levenson who said, “The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy.” Nothing confirms this more solidly than the curse.

As parents we eventually watch our offspring spring headfirst into a world armed only with the lessons we taught them. That alone is enough to scare the bejeebahs out of us. Suddenly we find ourselves taking inventory of every example we set by our behavior, and "Do as I say, not as I do" is no longer funny. We question whether or not we taught them right, raised them well, and gave them every skill we had to give.

"Turn that down" referred to stereo volume when they lived with us, but now it refers to cell phone contracts, dubious job offers, and get-rich-quick schemes - and we're not necessarily standing right there when the full force of the world's sales teams and con men descend upon our children’s hard earned paychecks.

As tiresome and challenging as it was to raise these knuckleheads, it has become more so as they discuss things like the possibility of quitting college to join the military. As the spouse of a career Marine, I’m not against someone joining the military. As the spouse of a career Marine who deployed often and barely missed being cut in half by an RPG in Iraq, I am against my children joining the military. In my mind, I’ve done my time, and my children should respect that. Alas, the parent’s curse rears its ugly head, and the “I’m grown and this is what I think I should do” discussion is on.

Article Author: Diana Hartman

Diana (nee Gulick) Hartman is the Culture and Tastes Editor for Blogcritics.org. She is a freelance writer, mother of three, and a (Ret.) US Marine spouse. She is a Wichita, Kansas native, having also lived in the California desert, Southern California, and eastern North Carolina. …

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