Ha…the question posed by Word Press as the topic of the day!!!
First, let me say that any mom out there reading this would think out loud…”Well welcome to my world! My life is a freaking reality show!!! Take the challenge and see how YOU do!”
I know there are the British Nanny shows about how to deal with disciplining kids, but what about us mom’s who don’t have the luxury of a nanny, British or not? I think disciplining children and raising them with good moral values and work ethic has to be the most demanding job in the world!! This is a true challenge of real grit in a person. And not everyone can do it!! I think more people can dance or sing or come up with a creative new invention or even survive the Congo, than can successfully accomplish what is put forth by the average mom on any given day!
When I took Developmental Psychology in college I was told that the most stressful job out there in the working world was that of an emergency room nurse. Well I have done that…I have worked as a R.N. in a very busy E.R. and I am also a mom, and I am here to tell you that the mom thing is way harder, less appreciated, and definitely more stressful! Why, because you are shaping the mindset of a new generation, the children we are raising will be the future lawyers, doctors, politicians, Indian Chiefs and so on…and how they conduct themselves is molded by whom??? MOMMY!!!
I think back to the earlier part of the last century and the mom’s of those days. My God they had it really hard. No modern conveniences and no less than probably 5 kids!! How the hell did they manage? No front loading washing machines with dryers, no automatic dish washers, no microwave ovens, no 2 cars per family to run kids from point “A” to point “B”…how could one survive such a primitive environment? Well I’ll tell you what they did…the kids had chores!!!
Yes I said CHORES! Mary Ellen and Aaron Walton had to help prepare meals and pull the laundry off the clothesline, while John Boy and Jason were responsible for milking the cow and bringing the firewood from behind the freaking barn up to the house so that they wouldn’t freeze on a cold winter’s night. Everyone had accountability…everyone had chores that must be done. Not like today…oh no!!
When I tell my son or daughter to go turn the light off in the bathroom, he or she needs to do it at the time I ask. I do not want to hear…”Oh no, I don’t feel like doing that “or “Why do I have to do that?” You do it because I asked or told you to do it and it’s not up for discussion or debate!!
So with all that being said…the reality show I’d produce would be one about living the life of a mom, with no modern conveniences, and surviving a week, month or whatever period of time, parenting no less than 5 kids! And to know whether one succeeded or not would be measured by not only the attitude of the children with regards to work and fair play, but also by the ability for the person in the “Parent Role” to maintain his or her sanity!
Maybe a good name for this show would be “Parent Trap” or, and I like this one…“Mission Impossible?”
Big Giant Dog... 