Standards have dropped to an all-time low around my house. I started out so well, saying NO tv for my kids, eating nutritiously, blah blah. And I look at myself now and I’m ashamed, ashamed I tell you, and I am fully aware that my twins are going to be going to college NOT knowing how to read wearing DIAPERS and it is all my fault.

With Emma I read to her on and on (an on) and I had the patience and tolerance for all kinds of books (even the stinkers, and for more on that you can read away…

I feel like the twins should be potty trained by now; Emma was. They LOVE all things bathroom related-toilet brushes, toilet paper, and they are quick on the scene as the “Flush Brigade” cold-cocking each other for the right to flush whenever anyone ELSE uses the toilet…

Which brings me to a sidenote. My husband in his quest for total privacy (I’ve given up which goes back to my original point of a lack of all standards) has been bellowing about our non-locking door on our master bathroom…so when he’s up there for hours on end, the girls are able to go and rattle the door. I bought a new doorknob and got all the tools together to install it and it’s “Easy”, it says so, and SURE ENOUGH the old stupid doorknob was installed one quarter inch off so even though the new one is installed properly it still won’t work. So I figure out a way to McGyver it up and got a paint stirrer, measured out a quarter inch, sawed it off, installed that, installed doorknob piece over it, and it still won’t work. And took up my time. And made me say bad words. A further proof of the declining standards.

Every single week I say I’m going to potty train the twins and then I look at them helplessly and buy another $35 worth of diapers, every single week, at the BJ’s. And potty training’s the least of it! My hard and fast “No TV” has so gone by the wayside–the standards of what’s educational now include anything on HGTV (my almost four year old can compare and contrast “Designed to Sell” and “Househunters” in well-reasoned arguments, episode by episode.) It used to be just 20 minutes of Elmo each AM, I’d fast forward through the rest of it…now that precious hour is the sweet, jealously guarded part of my day where I can enjoy a cup of coffee and read something ON MY OWN. I have been letting the almost four year old watch “Survivor” as educational because they show exotic animals–only because by Friday afternoon, when it’s prior to her nap, I’m DONE and that 45 minutes of chilling out with her is about all I can take!

And I can’t fight the dress code anymore either…she’s been wearing princess gear for a full two weeks. In public. Complete with dress-up shoes taped together with packing tape (since they broke because of frequent wear).

The one rule I’ve stuck to my guns on is nap time (because let’s be honest, we all need their nap time) and even when almost four was never, ever sleeping–she still had quiet time in her room. And now she’s back to napping. So even though it’s partially self serving I am still feeling like a good parent there.

What’s gone by the wayside at your house? And would more time make it better? (I’m not sure that’s the problem here…)

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