Mean Parents School

If you’re a parent I’m sure you’ve heard many times “it’s not fair” and “you’re so mean”.

The “it’s not fair” pretty much got outlawed in our house.
--You’re right! It’s not fair. Life’s not fair. Tough!

But “you’re so mean”? That’s one I could get behind. And I heard it again just this weekend from my…uh…23 yr old (gosh Boo, are you really that old?) which is what sent me down this path on memory lane.

At one point when the boys were growing up and I was accused of being mean I said, “yep, your Dad and I went to a special school just to learn how to be mean. Graduated with honors too.” And from then on I’d just remind them that we had gone to “Mean Parents School”.

Now, my kids are smart and even as youngsters they were skeptical—not sure there was such a thing but couldn’t prove otherwise. I have a vague memory that Alan may have even asked where our diploma was…the smarty pants! Ah but one day while rummaging around I happened across our college caps and gowns from graduation at SBI.
“Hey look! Here’s what we wore for graduation from “Mean Parents School!” That made ‘em think hard!

And so it has gone down in our family lore…and it wasn’t even a lie. For we did study child development. Learned that saying ‘NO’ and setting boundaries, time outs and…dare I say it…even spanking (GASP) were effective tools for guiding children along the road to adulthood.

Now, no parent is perfect and I know we made mistakes; but as I look at my kids now…I’m pretty proud we went to “Mean Parents School”. AND I’m pretty proud of my kids too!

Parenthetically, in the parking lot at Safeway right after this I heard a mother telling her daughter—“Yes--Mean and Mom both start with the same letter, don’t they?” I like that answer too!


The boys last summer with their Great Grandmother who just passed away April 23.