Fake It Till You Make It!

The other day I got a text from a friend of mine telling me that, in his advanced developmental psych class, he had discussed the child rearing strategy my husband and I use.

Not knowing exactly what he meant by ''rearing'', my immediate reaction was, ''F*&#!! Now child services will surely be knocking down my door!'' Thanks buddy.

When he finally explained that child ''rearing'' strategies was actually a fancy word for raising your kids, I relaxed...well, just a bit...that would probably still justify a visit from child services.

Anyhow, he proceeded to explain that he was actually paying me a compliment and that he had explained to his class how good we were at ''rearing'' our kids..(ha ha)....to which I replied:

''Would you mind explaining to me what my strategies are? . . .who knew ?. . .I have strategies?”

He never got around to explaining them to me, but it got me thinking about what parenting strategies I think I use.

This was my conclusion: Fake it till you make it!

That's my strategy.

Basically, I have no clue what the hell I'm doing, but I'm sure not going to let my kids know that...they have a sixth sense about that kind of stuff.

They start foaming at the mouth if they realize I don't have a clue how to handle an escalating situation (which usually involves meltdowns in the candy aisle at Walmart or something of the sort).

Not Walmart this time, Target. The situation was quickly averted with mention of Toys R Us!

All we can do as parents is try (or fake) our very best and hope they'll grow up to be reasonable.

Or, in the words of the wise Phil Dunphy of ABC's Modern Family, '' Your parents fake their way through it. You fake your way through it. And hopefully you don't raise a serial killer.''