We coerced the boys into a 3-mile hike today. Those guys are so frustrating! They were adamantly opposed to hiking today – Twelve looked like he was on the verge of tears for the hour of coercion, executive decisions, and prep he had to endure. And as soon as we hit the trail he made up this brilliant walking form of Minecraft-meets-dungeons-and-dragons that fully occupied Twelve and Eight for the first 2 1/2 miles if our walk.
Wouldn’t you know it: 10 min into the walk Twelve said “I like going on hikes like this together. We should do this more!”
Mike and I nearly rolled off the mountain. Unfortunately I couldn’t get him to repeat that statement into my voice recorder.
It turns out that the hardest thing about parenting is probably the constant feeling that you are doing it wrong. either society tells us this, or we are too hard on ourselves, or the kids say so. Luckily if you push through this awful sneaking sensation the odds are you’ll have a potentially frustrating yet rewarding moment of zen in the woods, where the kids decide they are having the time of their lives. And if you can avoid a hard-hitting “told you so!” those moments are so worth it.
I’m blogging a photo a day for the month of February. You should too! #29in29
