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"I&amp;#039;ve always loved that quote from the Earl of Rochester: &amp;quot;Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories.&amp;quot; I didn&amp;#039;t have any theories about parenting before I actually became a parent myself; I had rigid, nonnegotiable certainties. Mercifully, I&amp;#039;m a quick study \u2014 it took only three children to kick me off my high horse regarding the kind of mother I set out to be. That is, a perfect one. A few of the innumerable ways in which I&amp;#039;ve (happily) fallen short:  Sometimes I nod and make noises like I am listening to my kids when I am not. Especially before 9 A.M. I gave up on giving daily baths \u2014 or getting them \u2014 after the second baby was born.  I don&amp;#039;t have a one-bite rule; a peanut butter sandwich is always on the menu; and I could never send a child to bed hungry.  I like to be near my kids when they&amp;#039;re playing or doing schoolwork, but I don&amp;#039;t really want to join in (unless they need me).  There are days when I&amp;#039;m the one asking if it&amp;#039;s time to watch television yet. I forgot to bring my picky-eating fourth grader his lunch today (again), and he had to get a cafeteria tray. He&amp;#039;ll at least eat the cookie. As long as it doesn&amp;#039;t have nuts, raisins, crunchy bits, or unfamiliar specks. I&amp;#039;m not a &amp;quot;baby&amp;quot; person. I couldn&amp;#039;t wait for them to be old enough to have conversations and play board games with me.  On more than one occasion, I&amp;#039;ve forgotten to pick up a child on time. My youngest still brings up &amp;quot;that day you forgot about me.&amp;quot; I readily admit: Playgroup was really for the mommies.  I am neither organized enough nor solvent enough to pay a regular allowance, but sometimes I resort to bribery. I am fully prepared to negotiate with the terrorists. At one time or another, I&amp;#039;ve fallen back on tactics I swore I would never use on my children, including guilt, yelling, and threats to call the North Pole.   In 12 years of parenting, I&amp;#039;ve never spanked, but I do remind them it&amp;#039;s strictly a &amp;quot;one day at a time&amp;quot; abstinence program.  Our tooth fairy is notoriously unreliable. Sometimes I just vacuum up the LEGOs.  Glad that&amp;#039;s off my chest. May I have my breakfast in bed now?  Kyran Pittman lives in Little Rock, AR, and she blogs at plantingdandelions.com/blog. She is also the author of, Planting Dandelions: Field Notes from a Semi-Domesticated Life.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a18667/parenting-styles/?src=shelter_footer>