Cows & free chicken

We begin our story on Saturday afternoon. It is time for us to get ready to leave the house for dinner. Jen asked Austin to put up his Nintendo DS game system. Quick side note, as you all know, everything in our house has a place, and there is a specific place for everything. We assumed that our 8 year old son had done what he was told and went on with our evening.

 Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. My dad, Austin, and I are leaving our house to play golf. We are trying to leave early enough to get lunch and snacks for the day. Austin gets in the back seat and opens the plastic box that holds his DS. He exclaims that his DS is not in the box. We spend the next 20 minutes looking for the DS and do not find it. Needless to say, I am a little frustrated that the DS was not put back in it's proper place where it could be found.

 Fast forward to this morning. For some reason the stress level in the house is high. Austn is not listening to his mother and is constantly antagonizing his sister. Austin's behavior continues to raise the stress level. Then we load up to visit what seems to be the busiest Chick-fil-a in the world. I was not in the best state of mind for the adventure. We get our food and sit down to eat. Austin looks at his bag and with a big smile on his face says "Dad, if we dress up like cows, we can get free chicken". All of the stress melted away.

 At times, it is difficult for me to find the balance between enjoying my children and correcting them. I do not want their memories of childhood to be dominated by remembering me telling them that they are doing something wrong. I want to be their parent and not their friend but I also want them to have my high self-esteem. Just another part of the joys and challenges of parenting.

 Sent from my iPhone

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