Hot Coffee Coaching

I am following with much interest
the brouhaha over the recently published
and highly sound-bitable parenting book,
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom
by Harvard Law Professor, Amy Chou.
Nothing matters more to me than parenting.
Unlike Chou, my single parent method was
more Tigger (amuse & confuse) than Tiger.
I did make sure I completely lost my shit
from time to time during key playdates
with my children & their friends.
That way, word got back that,
although I was widely believed to be
the “fun mom”, things could take a
Dark. Turn. At. Any. Moment.
I had to outwit them—
they were Chicago Public School kids.
My marshmallow suburban upbringing
was no match for their street smarts.
My strategy was to keep them guessing.
At an all-school ice skating party,
my third grade son tried on the F-word for the first time.
I yanked him off the ice, tossed him
in the car and took him straight to…
Starbucks for hot chocolate.
He was so confused he didn’t swear
again until high school.
Truth is it was cold and
that F-bomb was my ticket out of there.