We All Gotta Choose
One of my friends was past due in her pregnancy, so they had to induce. She was very much looking forward to a natural childbirth and had a support system and birth plan all laid out. She posted her induction plans on Facebook, and one of her friends said, “Remember that the end result is still a beautiful child. And this will introduce you to the kind of flexibility you’re going to have to develop as a parent.”
This is very true. There are a million things that I needed to rationalize as I endeavored to keep my family in clean clothes, feed them well, keep the house picked up and basically keep them alive. I’ve become a series of contradictions. And here are some:
1. I wash our clothes in Seventh Generation detergent, but I add a scoop of OxyClean (the only thing that gets out toddler stains). That way when the OxyClean eats off a layer of skin, there’s less irritation, right?
2. I put Old El Paso powdered taco mix on 100% grass-fed beef.
3. I stir flax seeds into my full-cheese mac and cheese. This one I don’t know why.
4. The only juice in my house is fruit-vegetable blend, but when we go out, Little Man drinks half of my Sonic cherry-limeade.
5. The only dessert that we serve is fruit. But cheese is a legitimate meal-time protein, and ketchup is a legitimate meal-time vegetable.
6. It is a given that the playroom must be picked up before bath/bed each night. But my office looks like the holding cell for tornados. I trip on something on the way to my chair.
7. I purchase all-natural toothpaste and all-natural hand soap for the Little Man’s bathroom, but every night he washes his hands in the kitchen sink using Palmolive.
8. When we moved to pull-ups, I chose Seventh Generation for the impact it will have on my environment. But I have a stash of generic Target brand on hand because I’m freaking cheap, and if he’s going to destroy a pull-up before bed, it’s going to be a crappy one.
9. When I first moved to Dallas, I was torn between the Camry and the Corolla due to gas mileage. The difference was 8 miles/gallon. Today, I’m counting down the days that I can get a Honda Pilot because of that damn third-row seat.
10. Since birth, I swore that I would never bribe my child with candy/treats. If he’s going to do something, he’s going to learn to do it because that’s what you do. But I am one more month away from making a candy trail from the playroom to the potty to get the Little Man to use it.
I’m not calling this hypocritical. I’m choosing to say, “you do what you gotta”.
