Parenting = Insanity?

Parenting isn't easy.

Insanity, on the other hand, is easily achieved, especially by parents.

But having crazy parents is devastating and demoralizing. Youth who have the misfortune to be trapped in a home with looney parents have few choices.

Some youth choose rebellion, or rage as a way of coping. Others run away. Some just plug in the ipod and pretend to ignore the nutsos.

Most parents are insane. They get it from their kids. Kids on the other hand, pretend that the parents have always been a bit ... off.

The fact is that when kids eventually leave home, their parents make a miraculous recovery!

And they figure out how to get even! They can spoil their grandchildren. They do this by holding the infant more than any baby needs to be held so the baby thinks it must be held every moment of the day. They give in to every whim of the toddler, who learns quickly to throw temper tantrums, particularly in public places. When the child is in elementary school, the grandparents give the child lavish gifts that can't compare with the educational toys their parents want them to have. When the teen years arrive, the grandparents give the teen money, no questions asked. The result is their dhildren - the parents of their grandchildren - quickly become insane, repeating a cycle that has gone on for generations.

Revenge, my friends, is sweet!

That's a given.

End of Story.

Contributing authors: Susan Wade, Patsy Bell Hobson, Rosemarie Combrinck Coetzee