Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Parents Deserve Awards, Don't We?

Who's with me?  Shouldn't we get awards for our hard work?  I just found an old pin that I received from my previous place of employment, as recognition for five years of work.  And it made me think.  In the business world, employees are presented with certain perks that represent encouragement.  It's not the same when you work at home.  I know that parents do get lots of perks.  For example, the artwork.  Also when your children kiss you and hug you and tell you they love you.  And when they say you are the 'bestest' mom in the world.  That is great!

But there are days that seem pretty thankless, aren't there?  Like the day I was dealing with an irrational three year old and a cranky, teething eight month old.  That day I came downstairs, fully dressed (which deserves an award in itself) and my three year old son saw me and instantly threw himself on the floor, wailing. I looked around.  What happened?  Had Thomas the Tank Engine retired?  Had Bob the Builder stopped building?  No, my son wanted to get dressed before I did.  You can't possibly anticipate these things.  And of course when I refused to go put my pyjamas back on so he could get dressed first, he had an even bigger tantrum.  I was struggling to put him on the time-out chair while holding my eight-month old daughter who was biting me really hard on my shoulder (teething).  It was at THIS exact moment when I thought, 'Where are the perks?  Where are the thanks?'

Several ideas for awards come to mind:

The 'I Took Two Children to the Doctor to Get Immunized and I Did It Alone' Award
The 'I Cleaned Poop Off the Wall, Vomit Out of My Hair and Pee Out of My Carpet and I Remained Unfazed'
The 'I Had a Home Birthday Party for Too Many Overactive Children and My Sanity, Although Damaged, was Not Completely Shot'
The 'I Have Been Vomited On Too Many Times to Count and I Have Done Far Too Much Laundry But I Have Done it Without Complaining Much' Award
The 'I Drove Several Hours in a Car While Keeping Three Active and Intensely Bored Children Occupied and I'm Totally Exhausted and In Need of a Relaxing Glass of Wine But I Didn't Cry' Award

I don't know if we should get money or what, but I'd settle for thirty minutes alone.

Maybe we could present our children with certificates stating how many hours we spent rocking them to sleep, feeding them, spending time in the ER, and so on.  Maybe when they're teenagers they would respect and appreciate us more.  Okay, maybe not.  But it would sure be a great guilt trip, I mean great leverage, for the next time they need a drive to the movies...

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Someday their kids will keep them up, barf on them, pee on them, break things, not look before crossing the street, turn around when peeing into a toilet (boys only), accidently kick them where it hurts, whine, cry, drop food on the floor on purpose, mess up their room, cry in public and have an attitude.

That's why it'll be fun to be a grandma... to watch the revenge happen!