Thoughts I Had When I Was Supposed to Be Sleeping

Parenting is a hard hard job. There is no hard and fast training for it; no degrees handed out, no certifications obtained. No concrete job description; no employee handbook. There is no test to take before being granted the ability to be a parent; no licensing exam.

True there are hundreds - thousands - of books written by so called "experts" to tell you what to do - what not to do - when to do - when not to do things. But those really are mainly opinions, and not textbooks.

What you learn with one child is not necessarily effective or useful with another. This is no factory type setting where you keep doing the same things over and over and over. The rules, the behaviors, the expectations, all change daily, hourly, minute by minute.

There are times for fun - and silliness - and wonder. But it is a job that is unrelenting: 24/7/365. You don't get a vacation from this job.

But if you are lucky and you get through the "basics" of parenting, you "graduate" to grandparenthood. And that is the supreme payoff for making it through all those years of parenting (but don't think that your parenting job is over yet - not by a longshot!!)

This is a job that is not necessarily 24/7/365. And, when exhausted, you can turn that grandchild back over to its parents.

But there is a reason it is called GRANDparenting - because it is just that - it is GRAND. Rules? Yes there are rules, and teaching; expectations and consequences. But now you get to choose what rules to have and what rules to enforce - what exceptions you can make and what ones you don't want to make.

Worry and love will always be there - either as a parent or a grandparent.  But as a grandparent you have much more time to enjoy the process of children being children - and you can even enjoy it by participating more fully in it.