Parenting, weather, and you
What an ice storm, internet outage, and weather shifts have to say about parenting
I live in Texas, where it's usually warm, hot, deathly hot, or some variation of the three. Well, save the one week of the year where we get to wear a sweater. While I've grown accustomed to our 340 days of t-shirts a year, I used to be a hardened Midwesterner.
Growing up in Indiana, I have countless memories of snow-blanketed winters, frigid mornings, ice-encrusted windshields, and frozen toes. While that might sound terrible to some of you, it was just how things were for me. When it was cold you bundled up, went sledding, had fun, and froze your ass off doing it. Then you went inside, warmed up, and did it all over again. In other words, you got used to it.
Well, imagine my surprise when Texas got hit by an ice storm a few days ago. Imagine my further surprise when our internet went out for an entire day. No YouTube for the little guy, no Netflix, no remote work, and no late night gaming.
And you know what happened? We had a blast. We ran around the house like some kind of untamed animals brought inside, snacked our faces off, played with toys, stayed up later than usual reading, and didn't miss a thing. In other words, we got used to it.
Parenting is a lot like the weather. You might dress for t-shirt weather, but the universe has other things in mind. The important thing is that you quickly adapt, or "get used to it," and most of all—have fun doing it.
I didn't move to Texas to scrape ice off my windshield, but I scraped the car—twice—this morning. I know there's sunshine around the corner, just like I know every tantrum or spill or rough night of the flu is followed by quality playtime.
Stay warm!