Doing the hard yards

I don't think I have ever met a parent that has said the job has been easy. I always thought that as your children got older the job got easier. I am here to tell you that does NOT happen! Well it doesn't happen if you choose the hard way. I have been reflecting over my week that was and I have had some major battles on my hands. I could have chosen the easy option this week and given in to my children. It would have meant my stress level would be MUCH lower but it would also mean i would have to battle the same battles over and over again. I do believe, for us, that that if we nip the problem in the bud whilst they are still growing plants our mature plants will be spectacularly beautiful. What wasn't beautiful this week was Ryan, Ben and myself all throwing a tantrum over a misplaced shoe and being 10 minutes late for school. But i don't plan on being the sort of Mum packing her child's university bag. And to ensure that i must teach my children how to prepare themselves for school independently. Same with the swearing issue. Add in the fact that Nathan was away, I could have ignored what Matthew was doing. But by doing that I would have been setting a precedent that swearing in this house is acceptable when it isn't. So I sucked it up and did the hard parenting.
I always recall my Mum saying to me that whatever punishment she had just dished out was as hard on her as it was on me. Now all of these years later I really understand that! But I think she underestimated it, I think it harder because you then have to deal with the guilt at inflicting the punishment on this child that you love so much. And it goes against your instinct to protect your child. But if I wasn't to punish my children what would be the result?
It is always close in Nathan and my minds that our goal as parents is to produce happy, healthy, well adjusted, independent adults. We spend alot of time discussing the best course of action to achieve this goal. We are a united parental unit. It is something that I am very proud of. It is something that our children try and test all the time. I was surprised at how young our children were when they didn't get something from me they then went straight to Daddy. One of our offspring tries this on more than the others. He still thinks he just might pull one over us. He doesn't realise that we talk about all of this sort of stuff when they aren't there. We even have a system! If one of us has said no but the other parent wants to say yes we will discuss it and if their opinion is changed we go to the child together and say we have had a chance to discuss it and have change our minds because of this reason. Its funny because we often discuss how we currently live by the mantra "Mummy and Daddy know best" but our aim is to develop these children to such a place that they can be involved in the decision making process. What i really want to know is how much longer will this "moulding" stage last? Because it is really hard work!
Anyway I think I am just rambling on reflecting about a really hard parenting week and expecting another one but this week will be single handed as once again Nathan is travelling! I am selecting my battles this week! As usual one battle I have no intention of fighting while Nath is away is dinner. When he is away we eat what they like. Vegies will not be on the menu this week. One week without them wont kill them! Hopfully by taking this one off the battle plan I will have more energy to fight off the bigger ones like getting homework done and reinstalling peace,law and order! Wish me luck!