The Tables Turn - Parenting Throughout the Years

Parenting my children when they were younger was a big exercise in patience and telling them over and over and over and over to “get out of the kitchen” or “honey you’re in my way” or “just one second, can’t you see I’m doing a million things right now?”

The best and funniest part of parenting throughout the years is when the tables turn.

Let me explain.

When a parent with younger children is hosting a party, an event, or a dinner at home — there is so much involved in the entire process. From the shopping, cooking, preparing the space, organizing the final details, and hosting the night. No one truly gets it, unless they are doing it. The ones who never actually understand are the children of the hosts.

There were many times during my earlier hosting days where I was making a holiday dinner and needed my time and space in the kitchen, and then someone comes in and starts getting in my space. Lol. Somehow my children picked the busiest times to start asking questions, move things around, make a mess, and disrupt my flow when all I wanted was the kitchen to myself. I would slowly get annoyed and overwhelmed. My kids wouldn’t get why, and ask me why I had a bad attitude. It was always me with the bad attitude. I couldn’t find the words to explain to them that it wasn’t an attitude as much as it was them in my way when I was busiest, that it was their poor timing.

My how the tables have turned. Now my kids are living on their own, in their own places. Every so often when they try to host something (be it a party or a get together) or they become busy, and I start asking them questions or walking into their personal space, I find their reactions all too familiar. Suddenly, my kids act annoyed and overwhelmed, even with all of my help. Just the fact that all this new responsibility is on them now becomes a big deal. Which I totally understand. Still, I can’t help but laugh to myself at how ironic it is to see them telling me, “just one second, Mom, can’t you see I’m doing a million things right now?!”