Christmas is a great time for your family to believe that you are a bad parent

December 28, 2009 | by cool dad | parenting

Jesus is the #1 reason for the Christmas season. However, it’s a little known fact that the #2 reason for The Season is for your family to discover how horrible of a parent you are.

This is how a holiday vacation goes from a Merry Christmas to your family wondering if they should’ve kept the birds and bees to themselves.

You, your adorable son (we’ll call him Hobart), and family are having a peaceful time at home.
Aunt Gertie says that Hobart should do something that sounds fun to her.
You ask Hobart to do it; he says no.
You politely tell Hobart to do it; he says no.
You tell Gertie, “Maybe later.” Gertie insists, “Now.”
You reason (wrestle) with Hobart, who eventually concedes (cries, screams, gives up).
Gertie tsks and declares, “If he were mine, I would…”

So, Aunt Gertie puts your li’l Hobie in a situation that he fights against, leaving you to struggle with getting him to cooperate AND possibly disciplining him, all while Gertie sits back and sympathizes (videotapes it for YouTube). The irony is that while Gertie admonishes you on what you should have done, you know that you would have never created the situation in the first place because you know better!

The situation that inspired this post was brief and relatively harmless. I just found the irony of it amusing. My family actually thinks that we are good parents. Mainly because we send them pictures of him hanging out with reputable celebrities.