I Don't Want to Make that Fatal Mistake

I consistently worry about committing the parenting atrocities that my parents did. There are several reasons why they and I aren't on speaking terms currently. So when I feel my anger about to boil, I have to step back, or blow off some steam by running the lawn mower up and down the yard. So why am I frustrated?

We took our son on a short trip, and nothing pleased him. Our first stop was a little amusement place with Go Karts, Bumper Boats, Mini Golf, Laser Tag, and arcade games. After spending over $50 to amuse him with one of his old favorites, he focused all on the negative, how a kid had bumped him out of the race on the Go Karts and and how the whole park "was going downhill" because they didn't have as many high-end prizes as they did previously. (He's convinced that a long time ago they had a PS2 for a top-end prize, but since there is no video game console as the top-end prize, the whole place is obviously "going downhill".)

Our next stop was our favorite fishing cabins, they are the most comfortable on the Bighorn River, and the most clean. Well, they weren't good enough because their mattresses weren't Temperpedic. (Where on earth he has slept on a Temperpedic to have such an expert opinion on the matter I have no idea. Certainly not with his mother.)

Our next stop was our favorite fishing lodge by the Tongue River. He wasn't pleased here because the hot tub water was too hot, there was some dirt in it, and his steak at dinner came out rare instead of medium.

On our way back we stopped off at some water slides, but of course he has rode on better elsewhere (even though the last time he was at an alternate water park he was too scared to ride the slides--but it's more fun.)

I try to be positive about most things in life, so when I'm stuck traveling with a little unappreciative storm cloud, I just about lose it, or mow the lawn really quickly when I get home.

Last night after I felt I had cooled off enough, we sat down with him and had a long talk about what it means to appreciate what other people are trying to give you, staying positive, and how having a sense of entitlement is going to get you nowhere. I realize that we are a fortunate family--able to drop everything at home most of the time to go fish someplace. But if you ask him about this trip, he wouldn't tell you about the fishing at all, (which was awesome, by the way, and he caught his first fish on dry flies), but he would tell you about the too hot hot tub, the undercooked steak, and the mattresses that weren't Temperpedic.

Whatever life hands you, you should be appreciative of the good parts, no matter what the negative side of that might be. And if you have a sense of entitlement of what should happen or what should be given to you whenever you want it, especially at 13, you will end up disappointed and putting a damper on everyone else's good time too.

There is a reason why his father started calling him "His Lordship", there is a reason why I'm debating between either "Diva" or "Goldilocks", but maybe if he looks up the words entitlement, selfishness, and appreciation today, his attitude may improve as it usually does after he has to look up terms that describe his behavior.

But most of all, even after I discipline him, I hope he still speaks to me as an adult.