Seriously, I think you’ll agree I’m on to something here:

About once a day I see something happen between a parent and a child or two children or some combination of parents and children and I wonder, when the time comes when we, as parents, are faced with this situation, what will we do? I would venture a guess that we’ll be making a lot of snap decisions, in the moment choices, and in some cases stumbling and fumbling over our words.

I’m not afraid of these moments, but I am interested in the fact that I could, perhaps, be more prepared for them. So, I was thinking, when the husband returns from this nasty-long deployment, we are going to have us a little chat about some of these things – these “what will we do” instances and see, if possible, we can come to an agreement on what we’ll do or how we’ll handle these sure-to-stump-us situations.

But then I thought: how can I possibly imagine all the “what ifs”? And, do I really want to? No. No, I don’t. I really do not want to sit around and wonder about all the things that might happen, could happen, probably will happen.  That will drive me insane because I could imagine us spending a whole lot of time on things that would NEVER happen.

So then I thought: obviously, some things are bound to happen.  They just do, right?  Kids don’t like to share.  Or start hitting. Or throw temper tantrums (I think I know how I’ll handle this one…but really, will I really, truly, just up and leave the store even if I really need that gallon of milk?!?). Or refuse to eat their dinners. Or cheat on a homework assignment. Or lie. Or. Or. Or. Kids will be kids.  Some of these things will not be “big” deals to deal with; what I mean is that we’ll probably be fine handling them on the fly.  But, some other stuff might have more lasting impacts and it would be so cool if we could identify what some of those things are and come to some sort of agreement on how we want to deal with them.  Instead of one of us making a decision that royally pisses the other one off but we can’t say anything until the kid goes to sleep and by then we’ve probably had a glass or two of wine and, well…you can see how that would go.

So…a little idea sprung to mind!

Some sort of Parent Prep Retreat.  Not a fluffy, goofy, get in touch with your feelings retreat.  But one where we hear from parents (maybe child psych experts, maybe just parents) about what types of situations might arise and then we, along with the other parents, discuss those and what we will do.

And we have our kids there with us.  So while we are doing all this “learning” and “preparing” they are off playing and all that fun stuff.  And we come together for meals, and cook together.  And maybe do some fun family activities, kiddo-centered. I don’t know — all kinds of fun stuff could be part of this.  And it’ll probably cost a pretty penny, but I think I’d sink the dough into it if it would give me some tools and strategies.

Maybe it’s a dumb idea, now that I’ve typed it all out I’m not so sure.  But maybe it’s a good one too.  If it’s a good one, and you run with it, just gimme a discount on registration, OK?  😉