The funny thing about parenthood is that your standards for success and happiness bear little resemblance to what they were before children. I’m not talking about career and life, but the little things. Take for example dinner.
Pre-Children
Good Dinner: A nice homecooked meal and a bottle of wine.
Great Dinner: A multi-course meal at a fancy restaurant with a nice view of the ocean.
Fantastic Dinner: Like the above, but in a private room on a tropical island vacation.
Post-Children
Good Dinner: One that you finish.
Great Dinner: One that you finish without getting up 12 times to fetch more milk or a new spoon to replace the one that was thrown on the ground or new paper towels to mop up the mess or the Cheerios since the entree is apparently unpalatable to 2 year olds.
Fantastic Dinner: Any dinner without the kids.
Now a few days ago, when I turned my back on a coloring session for about 17 seconds, I was presented with the following scene (thank goodness for washable Crayolas!):
Now I can assure you, that this is not behavior we condone during coloring time. However, reflecting on the incident later that evening, this was what I had to say:
A little marker on the wall, who cares? He was quiet while he did it.
