"Oh, no!"

Since we all have growing kids, I thought we could relate to this article that I read in the Calgary Herald some days back. Its a tad too long, but interesting all the same.
Most of the time we are so exasperated with our young ones without realising that we actually ought to be counting our blessings. Things could have been so much worse than what we perceive them to be OR everything must be hunky dory...only we don't know that!!

****

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR:
By Rob Petkau, For Neighbours April 2, 2009

I have a general disdain for both child actress Dakota Fanning and live-action adaptations of animated classic films, so it was with a double-dose of reluctance that I watched the 2006 version of Charlotte's Web a few years ago.

But there's one scene in that uneven and by-the-numbers marketing gimmick of a movie that borders on being downright profound for parents.

Fanning's character, Fern, spends an inordinate amount of time in her Uncle Homer's barn, hanging out with her "best friends"-- a bunch of smelly livestock animals, including her former pet pig, Wilbur.

Her mom (Essie Davis) becomes understandably concerned, and urges her to find some human friends instead.

Fern refuses, and an ongoing mother-daughter battle ensues.

Eventually, Mom gets her way when she spies Fern snuggling up with a boy on the ferris wheel at the county fair.

"Oh, no!" she whispers in a moment of startling clarity, where she realizes there are worse things than having a tweenager who clings to childish things.

My wife Karen and I are no strangers to the Oh-No Moment.

It's hit us a few times in recent months, and we can likely expect to experience the phenomenon more often as time marches on.

One recent Oh-No instance concerned some of Wilbur's brethren and our six-year-old son, Ian.

Something of a picky eater, Ian had no interest in bacon for a long time.

This isn't generally a problem, but it was a bit embarrassing when Ian would ask for cereal instead of the sumptuous brunch served up at friends' or families' houses when we'd visit.

Then, later, the rest of us would be stuffed with heavy breakfast fare, and therefore wouldn't need food again for half a day.

Ian, with only a few Lucky Charms under his belt, would be hungry in an hour.

"Why can't you eat bacon, like the rest of us? It's so frustrating!" I'd grumble.

Earlier this year, he discovered the smoky yumminess of this fat-saturated confection, and now can't get enough of it.

He had a Bacon and Egg Mc-Muffin at an airport McDonald's in February, and a whole new world of cholesterol and gluttony opened up to him.

I thought he was going to lick the grease off the wrapper.

Oh no.

Bacon is just one of the many meaty, fatty or starchy foods that our svelte little salad gobbler has recently embraced.

So now, instead of worrying if he's getting enough protein and variety in his diet, we're concerned he'll end up following in his dad's flabsteps.

The lettuce is always greener on the other side, I guess.

Meanwhile, our 10-year-old daughter, Katie, is a Grade-A ham whose ongoing priority is making people laugh.

If she makes 100 irritatingly goofy faces and tells 100 inappropriately-timed fart jokes and gets one giggle from one person for her trouble, she's happy.

Whenever a camera is pointed in her direction, she strives to look as silly as possible.

Until a month ago, her favourite hairstyle could be unfavourably compared with a static electricity-charged mop.

But lately, she's started to show real interest in her appearance.

She got her ears pierced for her 10th birthday a few weeks ago, her nails are sometimes painted, her hair is usually very well coiffed and we even caught her wearing a bit of makeup the other day.

Oh no.

My spicy little ham is gradually turning into a teenage girl. On the bright side, the fart jokes haven't lost their appeal yet, so this clearly won't be an overnight transition.

The lesson, I suppose, is that we parents often eventually get what we want for our children, but we need to be careful what we wish for.

If only we didn't have to take the bad with the good.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald