It Comes Back to Haunt You

It's totally not fair. You know how your parents said "Just wait till you have kids". That theory that the trouble you give as a child will come back to haunt you, through your children, as a parent. So what is not fair about that? What goes around comes around, right? Well, lemme tell you. In a two parent home, there is exactly that. Two parents. That also means two childhoods. And so what happens when one parent who was a good child, fairly obedient but easily redirected and properly chastised my meer words, weds someone who as a child had frequent head checks - not for lice, but for horns. Two of them. One on each lateral side of the head. Our childhoods? I snuck a snack an hour before supper. My husband locked his sister in the rabbit cage. All day. Outside. In the summer. And you don't want to know what they did with the knives. Now, fast forward a couple of decades. Introduce the happy couple who decide to have children. I was not particularly concerned about the "Just wait till you have kids". In fact, I felt pretty confident. Then I had my son. A beautiful boy. An exact replica of his daddy at that age I was told. Little did I know. The replication extended beyond the borders of appearance, beyond the world of physical similarities. And well into the world of which I had little knowledge. Naughtiness. Not just naughtiness, naughtiness. And what is the "good childhood" parent to do, other of course than frequently remind the other parent that it is entirely their fault? :<) We're doomed to battle the ghosts of the prophesy "Just wait till you have kids". Fortunately, a bit - a little bit - of my childhood lingers about my son. I think he'd be safe with the knives but I still find myself ruffling his hair inconspicuously looking for horns.