Devil or Saint?

OK, dear readers, let me paint you a picture...
you go to work, throwing yourself whole-heartily into it, come home to the the shrieking, wailing and crying instead of the pidder patter of little feet. Yes, you come home to those lovable children who are your heart and soul and instead of "welcome home daddy!" all you get is "wwwaaaaaaaaa!!!" or even worse, the constant tone of "Peep", "George" or "Bob" (apparently the only names your little bundle of sunshine will say, as he gasps at the tv DEMANDING that his favorite characters be played on the DVD player)

You assist in the ever fun project of dinner. "All done" he replies after eating an apple sauce and nothing else. This, even after the short-order cook, namely your wife, has made three different dinners for this little child, all of which he has refused. "Chips!" he replies...or "Fries"!! Forget the protein, forget the veggies, it's carbs he demands! (what is he, power lifting or preparing for a marathon??)

You then take him to the bath and off to bed...so you think...but NOOOOO! Not even the pleasant oasis of imminent bedtime will end the cries...for he doesn't want to go to bed...and no matter what you try-more books, more hugs, more kisses, more prayers-will end the constant bang of the bedroom door as your child continues to get out of bed and bang, kick and slam on the door continuously. Do you go in and yell or spank? Do you enter and comfort only to hear the screams as you leave grow even louder?? Do you ignore and figure he'll either sleep in bed or on the floor..."but I'm not going back in" you think to yourself

Like the ever determined warrior entering into a battlefield, there are some fights just not worth fighting...then your heart breaks after 10 minutes of crying you hear softly through the door, the most sad and pathetic tune of "sorry daddy, sorry daddy". That knife of your sad and seemingly apologetic brood digging into your heart now, making you feel "damn I'm mean, I'm too rough on him"...are you just training him (or better yet, is he just training you??!!)

Oh yea, I forgot mention that new shirt you just put on his covered in vomited formula that the other child just spit all all over you!

Tired, exhausted, really, you slump onto the couch hoping the gentle blue images that wash over your will take you away from reality...7pm...8pm...9pm...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz only to hear that continuing cry at 530am...is this a dream or am I awake???...didn't we just do this yesterday...wait a darn minute...it's Saturday...we sleep in on Saturday don't we???

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there does it make a sound? If you ignore your crying children until 10am and don't tell anyone, are you REALLY neglecting them??

Now don't get me wrong, children are the greatest thing in life...having the opportunity to instill your thoughts, ideals, values and have those concepts actually grow up and be able to make in impact on this world is an amazing thing...seeing them smile or laugh is truly one of the greatest joys of my life...but lets just say it this way...even a root canal has it's benefits but damn if the process don't hurt like a bitch!! In policing, they say it's 9 1/2 hours of boredom followed by 30 minutes of sheer terror...in parenting it's more like 23 hours and 59 minutes of chasing around the Tasmanian Devil followed by 1 minute of hearing the harps of Saint Michael!!! (OK, so maybe I embellish just a bit!)

PS...thank you George Bush for my stimulus check...I promise to use it wisely!!