Learning to Fly

Next week is the last Effective Parenting class. After 15 weeks of classes and small group discussion I should be a darned effective parent by now.
If I could sum up what I've learned about effective parenting it would be this: effective parenting is hard; ineffective parenting is easy. It's easy to yell at your kids; it's hard to try and find out what's wrong with them - to find out what's causing the behavior as Lee would say. It's easy to put a kid in time out, it's hard to decide on a logical consequence. It's easy to say the wrong thing when you're mad, it's hard to admit it later and to apologize.
We live in this strange society where it's assumed that when one becomes a parent they will innately know how to parent. We take birthing classes, but we don't take parenting classes. What I hear most when I tell people I'm taking a parenting class is, "you don't need to take a parenting class, you're a great mom," and while I appreciate this sentiment, even great doctors take enrichment classes and seminars to hone their skills and learn about new developments in their fields (at least I hope they do). Why not parents too?

song: Learning to Fly • artist: Tom Petty