Kid-Oriented Life

I've heard Dennis Prager talk about this. Somewhere along the way, we shifted. Even though so many children are dumped in institutions from the earliest ages because their parents won't change their lives for them, parodixically we have allowed kids to become our masters. When I was a kid, toys and other kid stuff stayed in our bedrooms or a designated playroom. Now they are cluttering our entire home. A parent might come to one of our games or school musical performances, now both/all parents are expected to come to all of those things every time. Kids used to have to endure adult conversations at the dinner table until the adults excused them. Good luck with that now.

And then there are the kid birthday party. Every kid needs a big party every year. And the parents of the invited kid guests have to be there, too.

So on a Saturday morning, I end up at a 2 year-old's birthday party. There was no need for me to accompany my wife and kids there, but my wife is trying to make the mother her best friend, and so of course I am supposed to come along to help keep our bratty kids in line and because my wife hopes I will be good friends with the father. That way I'd have even less ability of keep my old friendships going. Not that I have time for them anyway, with my family obligations. But since my wife didn't pick them, she'd just prefer I not have them. They aren't clones of us, and so she can't relate.

It was really interesting to have my wife shower ahead of this party, and to get out of bed and get ready to go much easier than with just about anything else. These days, she usually sleeps as much as she can as long as I will be around to keep the kids from killing each other. And she doesn't seem to care to shower on account that there might be the possibility of making love. Her choosing not to shower in a given day is a big sign to me that she doesn't want me. I tried to take advantage of her having just showered, but she was tired. Of course.

This is definitely worth over half of everything I'll ever earn. Isn't it?