Ignoring is bliss

Krys cannot ignore Norah. This is a shame. You might think this is a good thing, but it's not. How can you be a good parent if you can't ignore your kids?

Okay, you shouldn't ignore your children. But consider: sometimes you have to. In the morning, I get Mia ready. So I take her in the bedroom and lay her on the bed. She gets her medicine, which is always fun, and then she gets her teeth brushed and her face washed. Somewhere in there I get her dressed, and then comes the hair-combing. Oh, the evil of hair-combing! Mia lies on her left side when she sleeps, and her hair is naturally thick and curly, so that side gets matted down and tangled. In the morning I spritz her with detangler and go to work with the brush. After a minute or two of that I give her the comb. Oh, mean old daddy! How could he be so cruel? In order to lodge a protest against such horrific tactics, Mia screeches at the quite literal top of her lungs. Perhaps Homeland Security will help her if they hear her!

So while all this is going on, it's difficult to pay attention to Norah. She is at that age when she wants constant attention (wait, you mean they ALWAYS want that?), so the twenty minutes or so I spend dealing with Mia is unacceptable to her. Therefore, she cries. A lot. But I ignore her.

Krys is, of course, the absent and exotic parent, so they love her so much more than boring old daddy, and on the weekends there is no need to ignore Norah, because while one of us is getting Mia ready the other can hang with Norah. However, occasionally as parents we need to ignore the kids. I've become quite good at it. If Norah doesn't like it, let her crawl into the room where I'm dealing with Mia and do something about it!