I think we’ve all walked into the room and forgotten why, started to do something and been distracted by 100 other things, warmed the same cup of coffee up 10 times because we keep forgetting about it…but Friday, I really wondered if I was losing my mind

Before I had children, I knew it all. Boy, I had it all figured out, and I was going to be a great Mom! Fortunately, I kept opinions about other people’s parenting to myself, unlike some people. I sure do love when strangers or family members share their opinions on that I’m doing wrong as a parent, don’t you?

My husband and I have been married for 11 years this month, and we’ve been a couple for 13 1/2. In just a few more years, my life with him will be as long as my life before him. Sometimes I think he knows me better than I know myself.

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I’ve always tried to keep things gender neutral & not reinforce gender stereotypes with my kids (it bugs me that we say girls can do anything boys can, but heaven forbid a boy like pink or princesses.) Anyhoo, there is no doubt that my son is all boy.

Have you ever had a moment where you wished your child came with an owner’s manual? Let’s see…index: 7 year old with an attitude…page 67. Ah yes, here’s how to troubleshoot!

I have three children, and my third is far “easier” than the first two, so I’m feeling pretty good about the baby stuff right now. However, every day seems to bring a new challenge with my 7 year old. I can only hope that I will have it all figured out by the time the other two are that age!

I remember bringing my first baby home and thinking how crazy it was that they were actually sending me home to care for this tiny person!! We had to attend a “class” in order to be discharged, but that was essentialy talk of umbilical cord stumps and baby poop. I am so grateful to be raising children in the internet age. Is anyone else willing to ‘fess up to Googling things like “is … normal” or “what causes green baby poop?”

Now I find myself looking up first grade math online. I actually love math; it kills me when I hear kids say “pssht, when will I ever use this?” I use math all the time! In the grocery store to figure out unit prices, sales and tax. I use geometry when we’re working on home improvement projects, and I use algebra pretty much daily; or multiples times per day back when we were dealing with mortgage scenarios.

I did fine with Calculus in High School, but some of my first grader’s homework has me stumped. The K-2 math curriculum is really different than what I remember (granted, that was a long time ago!) and I’ve had to brush up to help her. She recently brought home a worksheet of “balancing equations.” The equations looked like this:

18-___=7+___
13=___

My husband and I were both shocked. What the heck? Are they doing algebra with two variables in first grade?? After a few minutes, we finally figured out that they were just trying to show kids that 18-5 is the same as 7+6 like this:

18-5=7+6
13=13

I’m glad that my daughter’s teacher this year emails a newsletter each week telling us what they are working on, but I sure wish they would tell us exactly what (and how!) they are teaching them, and teach us too. It’s hard to help when you have no idea what they are doing! Thank goodness for Google. We’ve found some great games for her to play online, and even flash cards to print.

I thought helping my daughter with her homework would be a breeze. After all, I was a great student, was excellent in math & English, and she’s even going to the same school I attended. I’m starting to get worried about second grade.

How about you? Has there been anything difficult about parenting that you didn’t anticipate having trouble with? Or does everything come naturally? (hmph)

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