KidsOutAndAbout Publisher's Note February 26, 2015: Frustration
Dear KidsOutAndAbout readers:
I was at the Houston Museum of Natural Science the other day, and I saw the best representation ever of something parents experience often: FRUSTRATION.
That sabre-toothed tiger pictured to the right (Xenosmilus) is in a no-win position: He's trying to lunch on what you would have called a Glyptodon if you'd been around during the Pleistocene Era. But the tiger is out of luck. The Armadill-o-zilla's armor is impenetrable, and the tiger isn't bright enough to change his approach, So he's doomed... in this case, forever frozen inside the HMNS, never getting the Armadillo Tartare he was craving.
So it is with parenting.
No, no, no... WE'RE not doomed. And no, I'm not recommending that we try to find the places where our toddlers and teens are most vulnerable, as that tiger should. But I think every parent has experienced a similar feeling of frustration: We keep trying the same strategies over and over again, banging our heads against their little armored hides, and somehow we keep being surprised when it doesn't work. Unlike that tiger, however, we humans are endowed with the ability to imagine alternatives: We can be creative and flexible. Even just reminding myself that I can draw on those gifts is often enough to make me stop what I'm doing with my kids and try something else. Even if that doesn't magically fix the problem, it makes me somewhat more confident and infinitely more cheerful.
Here's another source of frustration that can benefit from the Tiger and Armadill-o-zilla lesson: The recent stretch of cold weather has been frustrating. Unlike with parenting or even with the tiger's challenge, this isn't a problem that humans can fix. No amount of human ingenuity is going to have the slightest impact on Mother Nature, at least not this year.
I bet if you take 5 minutes with your kids to brainstorm ways you can together make winter work for you rather than against you, you'll be astonished at what you all devise. Step around and look at it from a new angle. More than likely, that particular problem may just melt away.