See that wiggly tooth? The one that is sticking out all perjankety and sideways? It was about two weeks overdue to come out when Ben left to go camping for the weekend. I told Madi that we could work on pulling it out while he was gone, but I was only kidding myself. I am not the tooth puller in our family….Ben is.
His approach is ultra direct…he dives in, cracks the tooth to one side, and yanks it right out.
My approach is a bit more subtle…I gently tug and twist, with very little success (obviously). You might even call it wishy washy or a failure to commit.
When it comes to parenting, Ben takes the same no-nonsense approach as well. Act up? Go to your room. Need a new bike? Let’s go buy one. Extra energy? It’s “go time”.
Me, on the other hand? I give way too many “opportunities to obey”, hem and haw about larger purchases, and sometimes will say “we’ll do that later”, even if I know later will never come.
We probably make a good team, the yin and yang of parenting styles, but I have found myself trying to learn a few of his tricks. How to take action instead of being frozen by indecisiveness. How to take a stand and stick to it. And maybe…just maybe…I’ll learn to pull out a few teeth.
Ben came home, waterlogged and tired from camping, and he and Madi ducked into the bathroom to check out her tooth. Ten minutes later, she emerged…tooth in hand.
Just like that.
I am linking up with Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop this week to “Share something you’ve learned from your husband about parenting. What makes him good at what he does?” To which I replied…”Just one thing?”
