Parenting in a "Community"

Let’s be honest, fathers have it easy.  If they change more than one diaper a day and give a kid a few pushes on the swing they are deemed an irreplaceably wonderful dad.  Mothers, in my opinion, got the short end of the stick in that department.  My husband’s a great dad and usually changes more than one diaper a day, and people always talk about how great of a dad he is.  I also change a lot of diapers in a day….I’m still waiting for my mother-of-the-year trophy.

 Something that has surprised me is how easy it is to be a parent when you’re the only family around.  We’re surrounded by 20 and 30-somethings all day – not a single parent in sight.  At first I thought it would be more difficult because they would have less tolerance for my children and their sometimes annoying eccentric habits – like spitting out half chewed food, peeing their pants, running away, and always asking for other people’s food. 

But the opposite is actually true.  I’m hesitant to say that they culture here is more understanding of the child-like spirit, because I am sort of in a bubble called Corrymeela.  However, these people either really find my kids charming, or are just good actors.   And when my kids aren’t charming – they don’t seem to mind one bit.  

a morning walk on the beach.

 I guess I never thought about myself as worrying about what others think of me, but that would be the only explanation for how this is all panning out.  For the first time since I’ve had two I feel like I’ve totally got them under control.   I’ve got myself under control.  They are completely well-behaved.  And they will without a doubt someday become pillars of society.  I may be delusional, but nobody is here to tell me otherwise.