Thursday, November 15, 2018

Parenting RAD is like playing Chess

I always try to get up and get completely ready before I get our daughter up.  Mornings just seem to go better when she knows I will not get preoccupied with getting ready, leaving her an opening to stir up trouble.  Plus, I feel more equipped to handle her when I have myself ready.

Today, I told my husband goodbye and sent him on his way to work.  I was about to jump into the shower when my phone rang.  It was my cousin.  She lives out of state, but we are super close.  We do, however, struggle to find time to talk.  Our relationship consists of text messages back and forth that go unanswered for days.

I decided to forfeit my shower time and answer the phone.  Best decision I made all day.

I ended up chatting with her for almost an hour!  Completely uninterrupted.  Her kids were at school and mine were in bed.  It was like we had no responsibilities pulling us away from a good conversation.  Complete perfection.

As we talked about everything under the sun, she finally said, "so how is Kate doing?".  It was like she waited to ask about her because she KNEW I needed to talk for a while about ANYTHING but RAD. 

I went on to tell her all the latest tricks and tactics from my too smart for her own good daughter. 

After a few stories about Kate, my cousin said "You know, Lynne, your life with RAD reminds of playing chess.  You can't just wait to see what she will do next and then react.  You really need to know all her possible moves and then still assume there are a couple you have missed.  At that point you have to try and make your move so you don't lose."   

How true is this? Yes!!  My life is the most stressful game of chess ever against the world champion.  And truth be told, I knew nothing about Chess or RAD until she laid the game out in front of me.

So on days when I feel like I am completely losing, I am going to remind myself that Chess takes time learn and time to win and it isn't over until someone says "checkmate".


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