I bet all those parents out there really will understand my frustration with my mom tonight. You've all been there, I'm sure of it.

You ask child (or parent, in my case) to do something. This something has a kind of time limit, a period in which you really expect this thing to get done. Get ready for bed, for example. Reasonably, you'd like this to happen in a short-ish length of time, say 45 minutes.

Is irritation to the point of a lost temper unreasonable when that time passes and _nothing_ has been done toward the goal you requested?!?! *heavy sigh*

I kindly asked mom at 10:15 to start getting ready for bed, as we have an appointment at the doctor's tomorrow morning and we need to leave about the time mom usually eats breakfast to get there on time. Okay, will do, she says, and I go back to my corner chair to read while she does her thing. I figured I'd read until I hear the plumbing noises from her bathroom, signaling that she's nearly ready.

I'm jolted from my reading by mom's pill alarm going off at 11:00. I head in there to find that she has not done one SINGLE thing to get ready for bed! In fact, she's just now heading toward the bathroom to deal with an accident that she had...an accident that very likely wouldn't have happened if she'd gone in there half an hour or more ago like I asked. Arrgh.

Finally, over half an hour later, she is in bed and I can think about heading to bed myself. Parents, I'm sure you know exactly what kind of frustration I'm talking about. I'm sooooo glad I don't have real children because I know from personal experience as a child that kids pull that kind of stunt regularly. Kids, if you're reading this, save your parent a grey hair or two and some frowny-wrinkle lines and try not to use this parental-annoyance tactic for a day or two. Give them a break and you'll both be glad you did.

P.S. Thank GAWD I'm going on vacation starting saturday!