The cake is in the oven, the cream cheese frosting is chilling and all the witchlings are scooting in and out of the kitchen to get a glimpse of what mom's got going on. The eldest is today 17! The youngest came out and jumped up and down for joy that there was a birthday in the house. He doesn't care whose birthday it is, he's just glad there's a birthday because it means cake!
Anytime I would go to the pediatrician's office, I would be given this survey to fill out. It would ask about things pertaining to my child's development. The one question that used to get my dander up was always: how do you feel you are doing as a parent? I consistently answer: ask me again in thirty years and we'll talk. Well as far as the eldest is concerned, I am a bit over the half way mark of telling the pediatrician how I think I am doing as a parent and I still don't have a clue as to how I will answer. All I know is that I have a baked from scratch cake in the oven and a bunch of family member's are drooling on the tile. ( I really should have put down a towel as so no one slips.)
I suppose that the reason I get my dander up over that question is because there is no way of telling in the here an now how you are doing when it comes to raising your children or even chickens until they have all grown up. Then you sort of look back and go oh wow, maybe I should have done that better in this area. Or wow, I had no idea that was around. There's seems to be a whole lot of would have, should have, could have involved. It galls me to think that Dr's seem to want instant feed back gratification on something that literally takes a life time to do. Or even that there is a magic formula to raise the perfect responsible citizen. (Trust me, I have asked Her for one and She cackled at me!)
We all get through our childhood traumas and parenting stumbling blocks in our own way, right or wrong. Hopefully we are paying attention to the red flags and thumbs up as we go and find our flow. How am I doing as a parent? I don't know. I am sure to get a report card here in a few years from my eldest, but in the meantime, there's cake!
