Part two of parents’ bill of right.

To be honest, the initial feeling of funny was now replaced by a sad and rather depressing one after I have gone through “Parents’ Bill of Right.” Many of them are self-evident and take-for-granted rights for parents, which should never have been given away in the first place.

Yet, the fact these rights are so much emphasized at the beginning of the book reveals a rather dejected situation that some parents find themselves in — they have been presumably deprived of these rights by their own undesirable parenting, and now they try to re-claim them.  So unfortunate parents! My heart goes out to those who have given in to their children’s demands, and little by little have succeeded in undermining their own authority and giving away their rights as parents.  Once giving away, it is no easy task to claim it back.

Meanwhile, I have to honestly commend myself for not having to re-claim most of them, as I am at present moment still enjoying them, not all of them though.  And I would like to add one more right to the list, that is, the right to have a break from parenting.  For most parents, they literally work two shifts — one paid shift, the other unpaid at home. Getting off from office means starting the second shift at home, cooking, parenting and other endless and nameless household chores that will not end until the day ends or the parent drops sick. Every weekend literally means “Labor Day” for most parents.

Personally, I feel so good once in a while during weekend to take a break from the non-stop parenting and household work — driving out by myself, stopping at a bookstore.  I would go through a stack of books, sit for hours, throwing overboard all parenting demands, and not feeling guilty or selfish at all. A break only once in a while. How about that!

Even better than this is the dream that on one weekend, one of my children would declare to me, “Mom, you take a day off your second shift job and do whatever you please. I am going to cook and clean the house for the family.”  “Dream on.”  I could hear my daughter saying this to me.