Cancer Survivor, writing about Health and Fitness as you age

So my husband and I had gone to a movie on Friday evening and came back home to find this note on our bedroom door: Yes, they did say they were coming to wake us up at 6:00 AM, and yes, they were bringing guns. Needless to say, we felt it incumbent upon us to assert our parental dominance by being ready for them. My husband got the nerf guns ready - these are the fully automatic ones with ammunition clips. We each had one and laid it out by the side of the bed, ready for the morning. Needless to say, we went to sleep with smiles on our faces, in anticipation of the morning's delights. Since my boys are not really able to be ninja-like, no matter how much they may think they are being quiet, we were up and had the guns ready when they opened our door. And we let them have it. It's moments like these that keep me young and makes me think that maybe we are not doing too badly in the parenting department.

I overheard a mom telling her, maybe 4-year old, not to watch T.V - this was on the way to dropping him off at the gym childcare.  You'd be pleased to know that I restrained both my voice and my eyebrows in response to this obviously ludicrous suggestion: That a 4-year old would be able to restrain himself if the television is on and his mother wasn't there and That the childcare staff would actually care I wasn't however able to restrain myself at a recent birthday party where a father sat his maybe 18-month son on the edge of a sandbox and told the poor tyke "You can play but you are not to go in."  I told the dad that he was evil, but I don't think I helped. Aside from those observations, it did get me thinking about the parenting style that says, "The kids have to learn the word 'No' " and the style that says, "I don't want to have to keep saying 'No' all the time, so I'll just not expose them to thin...

This parenting business is not easy, as I'm sure I've said before and definitely two heads are better than one (especially if they aren't knocking against one another). My view of my husband's parenting style is that he is too lenient and, you can imagine what he thinks of mine since I am just the opposite. Very often, whenever Lucas wants something or asks me to do something, I always see why he can't get it or can't do it. What I've learnt from Gunnar is to always try and figure out a way to make it happen. If it means that much to him, I should at least think about it. What does that mean in practice? Lucas wanted to have a tea party yesterday. In case you are wondering why he wanted a tea-party, all I can say is that of all the habits of mine he could have adopted, tea-drinking was it. Anyway, my first thought was 'No', Liam would want, the sugar and caffeine would get them hyped up, it would spoil their appetites for dinner. No. And then I ...

We have discipline issues at our house. Lucas seems to have trouble listening to my words. I am not sure why (there could be so many reasons). I wonder if I talk so much he just ignores what I say (highly likely), or maybe we spend so much time together, he forgets I am the Mama and not the playmate? (This is much less likely - you can be sure I won't let him forget.) Time spent with Papa on the other hand is different, he minds what Papa says and what Papa wants. For sure we have different parenting styles. I will ask Lucas, "Why did you hit your brother?" Papa would just say "Stop hitting your brother." Do you think that may be it? I think I need some discipline coaching. So if you have any good tips, send them on. We go through these cycles with Lucas, great over a couple of months, then things start to deteriorate calling for a little "attitude adjustment". Usually it only requires a slight course correction, but that hasn't worked this ti...