Lindsay's Tree

My mom and I were discussing parenting one day and she mentioned how amazingly well my grandma handled raising her children. My grandma raised seven children: four of them biological, three were blended into the family after remarriage. “The woman”, my mom said, “was born with the patience of a saint.” She went on to explain how grandma could give "the look" and the kids knew they had pushed it too far. I am amazed at the adversity my grandma faced over the course of her parental career. With seven children, every situation imaginable became a reality. Sometimes, I would spend the night at my grandparent’s and I would see how my grandma handled her kids with such grace, elegance, and dignity. Now that I am older, I realize my grandmother was a person of patience extraordinaire. As a mom in a blended family, I had no idea what I was doing when I first took the job. I thought I would just copy the methods my mother used with me and that should do it. Boy, I was wrong. As I mentioned before, you quickly learn that every child is different and methods that worked on you, or that you saw in other families, simply don't work as well as you'd like them to. That is why every new parent has to forget what think they know, what they observed from others, and what the books tell them. Eventually, every parent learns the most important trait necessary to successful parenting is patience. And perhaps a little blind luck. Want to know what else is in Lindsay's Tree? Tune in tomorrow. ~Lindsay