Future Caitlin?

Girl calls for police help over messy room

BERLIN: A nine-year-old German girl was so upset about having to tidy her room she put up a sign in her window urging passers-by to call police for help.

You can't make this stuff up! Follow the link.

Just when we start thinking we're going to sell her off for glue, someone else's kid puts it all into perspective for us. If Caitlin were to make a sign, it would be over tooth brushing. She's actually pretty darned good about cleaning her room - she'll even do it without being asked...sometimes. The caterwauling over tooth brushing is pretty annoying, though.

I'm starting to think kids actually get tougher to parent as they get older instead of easier. As infants, it's all about being exhausted, physically. But you don't have to put up with the emotional roller coaster of whining, foot stomping, talking back and the like. At this age, you get the mini teenager and you start longing for long weekends away (either her or us, but separately!) from one another and week long camps start looking reeeeeeally good. Don't get me wrong! I know that we're really very lucky and that she's quite well behaved, but there are times....

Times when Eric and I have that conversation that Calvin and Hobbes' parents had where one says, "We could have had a Daschund, but noooooo YOU said...!"