Pet Mommy of the Year
Parent of the Year
Pet Mom, of course!
Recently while waiting in the waiting room of my son’s dentist, a read a popular magazine’s announcement for Woman of the Year. The winner was a vice president of a major corporation at the age of 33. She was married, had an adorable 18-month-old child, and had made numerous contributions to society through her work, volunteer activities, and gourmet cooking.
I don’t want to belittle her many and varied accomplishments, but the whole thing offended me. All I could think was that most of the women I know could be Woman of the Year with the income and support of a nanny that this woman has. We would all spend our days doing good works and whipping up gourmet meals. But nobody I know has those advantages. Instead we spend our days working hard and trying to do the best we can for our kids and others. Clearly, such everyday heroics don’t merit a Woman of the Year award.
Sitting in the waiting room, I thought about my day as a single parent of three boys, ages 14, 12, and 7. We live with two college students, who help me with the kids and the rent. That morning, I left for work at 7:15 a.m. I worked through lunch trying to accomplish half of what I needed to do. After work I battled rush-hour traffic to pick up my son for his dentist appointment. On our way out of the house, SOMEONE accidentally let the puppy escape. We were already late for the appointment, but now we had to chase around the neighborhood playing hide and seek with our Chow puppy someone “accidentally” let out of the front door. She was determined not to be caught. When we finally grabbed her, I threw her in the back seat and the three of us raced to the dentist’s office. I considered myself lucky when we were only fifteen minutes late.
The bill was $175, which comes out of my salary, since I don’t have dental insurance OR child support. Perhaps major corporations provide dental insurance. Certainly they provide generous salaries to their vice presidents. I have neither, so that entire bill comes out of my too small monthly earnings. Not much time to think about it, however, it’s time to rush home to make supper for the two older boys. The moment I walked into the door they informed me they were on the verge of starvation and, oh yeah, a friend was staying for the night.
So I added more hamburger to stretch our dinner for teen appetites. After dinner, I cleaned up the dishes, folded the clean laundry, helped with homework, and prepared for the next day. Well past 10:00 p.m. when the house was finally quiet and I was nearly done with the things that absolutely couldn’t be put off for another day, I realized that I needed to devise my own, unofficial Parent of the Year contest.
My requirements for winning are much different from other Parent of the Year contests. For starters, I am automatically nominating every single parent in the country. Anyone who balances the needs of their children with the demands of a job deserves to be considered for the distinction of Parent of the Year.
In addition, I am automatically nominating anyone who is a foster parent. Having been one, I realize what a heartrending, selfless job foster parenting can be.
Every parent actively involved in raising a child under the age of five is nominated, and anyone with more than one child under the age of five gets nominated twice. Any mother who decides to stay home and raise her children, rather than work, automatically gets a special vote, as does any mother who works in order to keep the family finances from disaster when she’d rather be home with her children. So does any father who stays home to be the primary caretaker of his children during the day while his wife works. Any man, who with grace and aplomb, does the courageous work of staying home, with all that entails, is a prime candidate for Parent of the Year.
My contest has a special category for the people who help parents raise their children. These include the daycare providers who love and care for our children when they’re away from us; the teachers who teach and tame our children through some of their toughest years; the principals who provide the structure within which teachers can teach and children can learn; and mentors who spend their weekends providing girls and boys with role models and serve a vital function for kids from single parent homes.
And you, if you’re reading this, take a look at all you do in your efforts to raise your children and pets. Give yourself a pat on the back. I just nominated you, too, for Parent of the Year. Happy Parent’s Day!
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