Parents are People too (fiction for me, fact for others)

Did you ever look at your infant, and wonder
"What are they thinking?"
I can assure you, it's nothing more than
"Feed me...shut up and feed me"
They are totally dependant on you, but they
don't care who you are, just so long as you feed
them.

Time marches on, and you take on a more important
role to them, one they can actually acknowledge.
Their first steps, leading to their first tumbles to
the dirt, with scrapes and bang-ups that really only
a parent can 'make better' with bandaids and kisses.

These few years of them glued to your hip, you are
their life, their direction and their greatest source of
comfort and biggest supplier of cookies.
They adore you and need you, almost more then the teddy
bear they cling to in your absence at night.

Then comes the day, that your baby climbs aboard
the big yellow kid-eater, swallowing him (or her) whole, even as you watch... taking them from the shelter of
your arms to the big cruel world, where you can't be right
beside them to protect them.
From bullies, lunch stealers, the rules of an adult OTHER than
you...what if they fall down?
What if they get scared, or lonely...
and even worse...
What if they actually exist quite well in their new
surroundings and don't even think about you once
while they make new friends and explore their new
independence!

They still need you.
You're still important.
You are the one that puts the towels in the dryer, so after their
bath, they bundle up in toasty cotton before putting
on their pajamas. You are the storyteller, the one that
tucks them in, you possess the Monster Spray to ward off
creatures of the night.

How then, does it happen, that once the word 'teen' follows the
number, as in thir-TEEN, they suddenly are no longer
human, the are gangly, grumbling and grouchy?
The three g's? How'd that happen?
Suddenly, they're not like you anymore, they're not the funny,
fancy-free silly goofy kids....They've suddenly
turned into their fathers?
(Uh, no offense men, but hey, ::shrug:: it's true)

Oh they still need you.
To drive them to football practice,
to the mall, to their friends house,
but for GOD sake scrunch down in the car so
nobody can see you as they exit the vehicle.
At least try to look invisible, for their sake.
And don't even THINK about trying to kiss them.
Your lips are no longer the comforting, cooing warmth of
security. They are suddenly poisonous icky globs of *gulp*
PARENT GOB.
And if you MUST hug, please do so extremely quickly,
don't make a sound, and don't expect arms around you in
return. Geez, don't ask for so much.

But what's this?
Why is Timmy looking at that neighbour girl he used to hate?
Why is Jenny eyeing the seat of that pimply faced
boy in English class?
And why don't his clothes match?
How can she be interested in a boy who's hair is longer than
hers, with noserings and some kinda steel stud in his forehead?

When did they start piercing FOREHEADS???
If they kiss, she's gonna have an indent from when his head
pressed against hers. Forget it.
Nip THAT coupling in the bud.
I won't pay for a wedding where my daughter marries some
schmuck with frankenstein bolts coming out of his
head. And that tramp Timmy is looking at.
What's her damage!!!

He HATED her while growing up.
He even went so far as to put her pigtails in the toaster.
Why is he smiling softly at her???? What's that tramp done
with my son's brain??? I bet she's a hussy, and her
parents are criminals. I just bet. Well, *I'M* not paying
for a wedding where...oh....wait a minute....the
criminals have to pay.....Let me rethink this relationship then.

You start feeling old.
They're grown up, married to barbiedolls and frankensteins.
But they seem happy.
Some kid you didn't raise is suddenly calling you "MOM" just
because they married your kid. I don't like that, I think
I'll just tell them "Hey, call me Ma'am, ok?"

You watch as they struggle through year one of wedded bliss.
Spending money they don't have, making really
stupid decisions, all the while you are biting your tongue
harder than you EVER have in your life, to not voice your
unsolicited opinions. If only to prevent them from making
some of the same mistakes you did. No, let them learn
through their own mistakes. Whoever made up THAT
little ditty never had children. Who wants to sit idly by while
Frankenstein 'fixes up' a hotrod so your daughter
can cruise around town, when it looks like it's going to fall
apart any moment. I don't want to watch Timmy work
his ass off while barbie spends it on clothes!
Ah but I keep my mouth shut.
They call me Ma'am.
So I give them a break.

But.....the day they come to you and tell you,
"Ma'am, you're gonna be a grandma!!!!"
Well *smile*
After I regain consciousness, I remind them, they are
only thir-TEEN and can't possibly have children.
Then I remember, they grew up long since, when I have NO
idea. I think I blanked it out. And I bite my tongue while barbie
(she must have seduced my sweet innocent son)
and sweet innocent Jenny (I'll kill Frankenstein for
touching my daughter, the letch!!!)
eat food they shouldn't eat and forget to take vitamins.

The day arrives when they get their first twinge of labour pains.
And suddenly they blurt that NOBODY ever had the
pain they are suffering with right now, something must
be wrong because their 2.5 hours of excruitiating
labour is worse then any other woman ever suffered.
You think back to your 9+ and 18+ hours of back labour and
sigh.

But they present you with tiny, pink babies, tiny little faces so
much like your own kids, looking up at you in complete
astonishment, bewildered. Everything you ever
complained about, or struggled through is gone, your
baby now has their own baby. And you're holding it.
An extension of them, of you, of your own parents, and
all the generations before. The innocence cradled in
your arms was the same innocence you cradled years
before. You kiss their little foreheads and wish them
an easy life, and easy berth...and look upon your
own children differently.

Believe it or not, they look at YOU now in a totally new and
respectful light.

While deep down, in the corners of your mind...you know.
They are beginning a whole new life, the same life you just
recently realized was the best years of yours. The most
fullfilling and cherished moments, those very same ones
that reduced you to tears of frustration, are now treasured.

They still need you.
But now, you're not just a parent.
They *see* you now. You're a people too.

Take me home! Main Dave's Chronicles