The Parent Meme

I ran across these questions in a recent Family Circle.  They were answered by Michael Chiklis.. but I thought the questions were pretty good, so here are my answers.  Hope some of you will choose to play along..

I parent three children, Kendra 18, freshman in college, Kim 15, sophmore in high school, Mac 14 freshman in high school (homeschooling)

I'm a huge fan of: my kids. I marvel on a daily basis how totally fun they are as people.  And that they are so clever and witty is a big plus too.

My parenting philosophy is a mix of: treating them as though they can understand the concepts we are trying to get across to them with equal parts of "flying by the seat of my pants".  I try to be proactive, but when I have to.. I'm very reactive.

Our siliest family ritual is: making cookie turkeys at Thanksgiving. These are three dimensional turkeys, out of cookies.

I feel like Super Mom when: I see one of my kids handle a "life lesson" with grace and humor.  Knowing that they have skills that will help them when they get out into the real world helps me to believe I've done a good job.

I feel like the worst parent in the world when: I can't get past my own issues to see theirs.

I don't want my kids to be spoiled, so I make sure they: do chores around the home that help out everyone (for example.. they don't just wash their clothes.. they wash everyone's clothes), they earn extra money for the big ticket items they want.  We all work on some sort of charity projects through out the year.  Recently, it's been packages to the troops...but prior to 9/11 we helped out with food to homeless shelters and the Salvation Army Angel trees.

I want to scream when my kids: fight with each other.

My kids know not to interrupt me when I'm: driving in tense situations.  They know I hate being distracted when I have to concentrate on the traffic around me.

My whole family sings along to: Linken Park, Evanescence, Skillet, Hilary Duff, Beatles, Toby Keith to name just a few.

My Ipod is loaded with: I don't have an Ipod... but I do have an MP3 player and I have the Beatles, plus two exercise music cd's that I had to ask Paul to put on it for me. I use it for my walks outside.

My children have taught me:  just how much my parents must have loved me.  I don't think that I could love my kids so very deeply if I hadn't received such love myself.  They have also taught me not to take myself too seriously.