Hobson's Choice
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Husbands
A child's bad mood has great magnetism. I can be present with Eleanor's bad mood all day and stay upbeat and cheery pretty much the whole time. But then Chris comes home, and I allow myself to feel all the festering mood and I lash out.
Most of the time, I think of Chris's parenting and mine as being similar. I think of him of being a very connected, in-touch, hands-on dad, and he is. Occasionally, something will happen that shows me the gap that a child builds between man and woman, between parenting styles, and between the person who is at home most of the time with the child and the one who is at work most of the time.
Eleanor did not take a nap today; at 5:30, she's ready to crash. Of course, she can't go to bed yet. This is what Chris said: "Maybe she'll just have to not take naps and get really grumpy and tired, and then she'll realize that she needs a nap."
This is a statement from a planet where I don't live, maybe a true one, maybe an appropriate one, but a different planet nonetheless. I cannot even imagine Eleanor being able to "realized" such extended cause and effect.
5:42 p.m. - 2004-04-12
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