The problem with having children is that by time you’ve learned everything you need to know to raise them, they’re almost grown. By time you’re wise enough, you’re too tired. One thing I have to say about having children is that it makes you appreciate your own parents.

A frequent source of conflict between children and parents is that they do not think alike, much to consternation of parents. For instance, I like putting things back where they belong so I can find them next time I need them. My children don’t seem to have this same tendency. When things get out of place, I can easily get out of sorts. But after much trial and error, I realized that it’s not worth raising your blood pressure over a $40.00 power tool. Nor is it worth damaging self esteem of your children (now that’s an overused word I bet you’ve heard before)! One way to abate anger you feel from having your personal possessions and tools strewn out all over lawn is to remember that it’s probably divine retribution going back to when you were a child and did very same things to your parents!

In all honesty, losing your temper is easy. Some people seem to lose it a lot more than others. Incidentally, why is it that those who lose their temper most always seem to find it again? Maybe it should’ve stayed lost!

Actually, losing your temper is most counterproductive thing you can do as a parent. It’s admitting to your children that you’re not in control. But in any dispute between emotion and common sense, it seems that emotion almost always wins out. Maybe your best bet is to try another approach when things start to get tense before you vent your anger. It’s easier to maintain control of your temper than to wait until it’s unleashed and try to reign it back in. Once you’ve gone past point of no return, it’s sort of like jumping off a house and trying to stop halfway. Too late!

Dealing with children isn’t supposed to be easy. In case you thought otherwise, your children will subtly remind you over and over again! There will be times that you won’t always know best thing to do, especially when it comes to issue of discipline. Unfortunately, children don’t come with instructions--if they did, you wouldn’t have time to read them anyway! Children, however, need some direction from you as a parent. And instruction. And because of time constraints, sometimes parents will skip over instruction that children need and go straight to punishment phase.

See, it’s my mom’s fault that I didn’t have any friends—nobody wants to hang around with a kid who eats worms. I had even tried to tell her this well-known fact. Would she listen? Noooooo. Well, maybe my mom knew what kind of a complainer she had for a son, and just refused to put up with it. It’s possible. Difficult to believe, but possible.

Finding somebody to be your friend when you’re a whiner is hard—at least it was for me. It was even harder for me to keep them—my mom wouldn’t let me. “Find somebody nice,” she’d say. “Nice?” I’d ask. “Yes, your sister has nice friends. Why can’t you be like her?” That is why little miss perfect got locked in basement.

By time I could drive I did have a few friends, but only because they needed somebody to pick on. Poor me. They were better than nothing, though, and besides, none of them would last. It’s a sad truth. Time tests friendships, and most of mine have exploded into bits and pieces that I call memories, because that is all that is left of them. That road they call life is not much fun to walk alone, and though I know this, I still wonder why we choose to abandon one another along way. Solitude is regrettable prize won through pettiness.

Overcoming differences is one of ways I have learned to measure a friendship. If a smooth path exists, I haven’t found it. The unspoken covenant is not for me to embrace every footstep that my friend makes, but rather to simply accept their placement. If I want relationship to last, I have to be willing to offer compassion in face of defeat, and, even more importantly, be willing to accept it.