Man-to-Man vs. Zone

Days are long this time of year. Maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s because I have a case of SAD. (Seasonal-Affective Disorder) Maybe it’s because the kids are driving me crazy all of the time. At any rate, this is not a good time for me. Why anyone would want to raise one or more kids without a companion is beyond me. Upon learning she was pregnant while not married (OHHHHHH shame on her to let herself get in that situation!), didn’t Rachel on Friends say, "I can do it. I’ll do it by myself."? I know that she is a fictional character on my favorite TV show - but there are women who say that for real. And they are insane.

I am, in most situations, a very calm and collected individual. HOWEVER, when dealing with my kids lately I am not a) calm, or b) collected. Don’t call DCFS. I am not injuring or hurting the kids - but I am not the parent I was when there were two of us doing the parenting. I was good at the good cop- bad cop thing. Also, the kids are not the kids they were when there were two of us.

When there are two parents with two kids - both can be involved in the man on man coverage most of the time. You can also do temporary zone defense when one of the parents needs to leave - again temporarily. Zone defense is not good when you have an active offensive force with a strong physical and mental presence set on breaking through the zone. I am good with man to man. Or in my case, man to kid. When you are constantly playing the zone - someone doesn’t get the attention. All the attention goes to the kid nearest a stove, a stairway, a hinge, is crying, hungry, or not sleeping.... or all of the above. That means the one acting good doesn’t get the attention they will shortly realize they are not receiving. Of course, that means the one that was acting like an angel suddenly has to pick a nit on the one who was already grouchy or hurting or otherwise getting attention. This vicious circle was 85% of my day today. It was a Top 10 bad day in my book. (Not involving a death or hospitalization.)

And to top it all off, Amanda for the first time cried this weekend and blamed the crying on missing Cindy. Yeah, it was a great weekend and it’s only Saturday night. Why again did I take Monday off from work???