My co-worker and I were able to come up with three types of parents.  Sure, there are mostly like thousands of subgroups, but in general, they all fall under one of these three groups.

Like me, my kid isn't perfect and will make mistakes.  This group is the most reasonable.  This is the group you want to be in.  This is the group that realizes that at some point their child is gonna disappoint them.  This group takes into account that we have all had EPIC fails and it is safe to bet our children will too.  What we hope is that, like us, our children learn from them.

Not my child.  This group is raising kids who do nothing wrong.  Kids who are wrongly punished.  Kids who would never step out of line, unless of course, provoked.  Once provoked, retaliation is not only warranted but completely encouraged.  This "it was not my fault" mentality follows them into adulthood.  It stands to reason that, like their parents, they will always be the victim of circumstances.

I have kids?  This group is mocked for their incompetency.  They have little interest in the small people referring to them as "mom" or "dad" and can't be bothered with simple things like providing appropriate attire.

Your thoughts?

After reading a recent post by my good blogging buddy Jenner's about the the unexpected death of her mother I began to long for a closer relationship with my own mother.

I tend to be the mediator in my family.  I am the one that everyone calls when they are annoyed with another family member.  I am the one that make amends.

I am the one that acquiesces so peoples feelings don't get hurt.

I am the one that keeps my feelings deep inside.  Even on this blog I rarely go into what I'm truly thinking...what I'm really feeling.  After all, who knows who could be reading it.

It is not as if I'm not friendly with my mom, but we do tend to go quite a few days without talking.  I don't often ask her for advice.  A lot of times I feel like I am the last to know what is going on in her life.  Often I feel like she has little idea what is going on in mine. 

A good example of this happened 7 years ago.  We lived in Ohio then.  It was October and I was due to give birth to my third child within a few weeks.  Little G decided to come early.  He wasn't due until November 1st but instead came in mid October.  It was understood that hubby would take the first week off but then my mom and my MIL were to come out and help me with the kids for the following week.

After all, at the time, I had three kids under 5.

When I called my mom from the hospital to tell her that Little G was here and that he had arrived early she told me that she'd been meaning to tell me that she quit her job and was moving to Virginia to live with her boyfriend.  She had a new position there and would be starting the following week.

Surely I could understand why she couldn't immediately take any time off.

I guess I was surprised that I didn't know she was considering moving three hours further away from me.  When I lived in Ohio that was not an easy day trip.

So as a point of reference, what do you talk to your mom about?  What does she talk to you about?  Why are you close?  Why aren't you close?