If you are lucky like me, you are parenting your child with someone who you love and respect. Parenting is a marathon and a team is absolutely necessary.
I know that my son is aware of our distinct differences.
I am the schooling, zombie battling, sticking to the rules and allowance chart mama.
If there’s a problem with the computer, a modding or hacking question, a play and laugh out loud past bedtime evening…that’s her.
She is the best thing since slice bread when she walks through the door in the evening and sometimes, if I’m being honest, that bugs me.
Some days, I want to be the fun one. I want to be the start the day without a plan mom or the eat ice cream for dinner mom, but that’s not my nature.
I have to resist the urge to go upstairs right now to “remind” them about the time. I don’t. She loves this time and likes the bonding that happens, even if the talking should have ended thirty minutes ago.
I have to resist the urge to organize and list their day together. I think of the schooling that needs to be done and she sees other, different ways to experience a productive day.
Even as I write this, I see my control freak nature showing. Maybe that is me or maybe it’s because I have spent over twenty years teaching, managing, organizing and seeing what kids should be able to do.
So…here is my question. Do you and your partner parent the same way or do you approach it differently? Is that a problem? Is there a “fun one” in your house?
My Twice Baked Potato 
That really is hard. I was always the enforcer around here, while my husband, too, was the fun one. The really difficult part was that he was so depressed for almost all the years the kids were growing up that having fun with them was really the only thing that kept him going. So I was pretty much stuck with my role as the responsible, “mean” parent. Bleh.
Usually okay with it, just more my nature. I can see that you would need to take that on.
In our house I think we’re pretty equal in the fun/mean sharing. We both work full time and baby goes to daycare, though – so that influences our want/need to be both fun and strict with the kid, trying to make every moment count.
Even Steven would be great. For us, it seemed more that way when MyTBP was younger.
The “Fun One” in our house just chased our daughter on the hardwoods, like he’s done many times before despite my asking him not too, and may have just caused her to lose her front baby tooth three years prematurely. Maybe this time it will sink in-the sight of blood on her sweet face, her crying out in pain, her puffy lip and whimpers as we had her suck on ice. Accidents happen, I remind myself, holding back the words I so desperately want to scream at him. Daddy will probably always hold the title as the “Fun One”, but I’m happy with being the “Comforting One.”
Oh no! What an excellent way of looking at it!
I think in general my husband and I both parent pretty similarly… I still feel like the enforcer most of the time though, since I’m home with them all day (although Munchkin is in preschool two days and goes to Kindergarten next year). At the end of the day, it’s Dad that does the baths and bedtime stories, and the kids can’t wait for him to get home… so in that way, it does feel unfair. Right now I working to find my balance between launching this business and time with them… that will help tremendously.
Any attempts at balance are good and a hubs doing baths-good thing too.