You’re getting at that stage and I don’t know if I’m ready for this, I don’t know if I can handle this. Before, either because you couldn’t really express yourself or because you still didn’t know exactly what you wanted to do, you would listen, do, and be content with everything Mommy and Daddy said. Not anymore. You are now starting to want to do what you want to do and are not inclined to just listen to what Mommy and Daddy say.
This is the part I am not ready for. This is the time where I have to start saying things like: “Because I said so,” “Just do it”, “If you don’t finish it, you can’t eat supper,” and simply “No.” As a father I need to say stuff like that from time to time. If I don’t, that’s not fair to you in the long run. You won’t learn if I don’t do that, if you always get your way. You need to learn that there are disappointments in life and that you can’t always get your way.
That is the part that I don’t know if I can handle or not. You’re just too cute. I love you too much. It breaks my heart to see that look on your face, it breaks my heart to see you cry. (It also breaks my heart when you get that sad look on your face when I have to leave for work. I really wish I didn’t have to go to work and that I could stay at home with you; I really do.) I don’t want to tell you that you can’t do something. I want to let you do what you want to do.
But I can’t. I’m the father and you’re the child. You have to listen, you have to learn that certain things need to be done at a certain time. So, I will have to try to be harder. But please remember, that however upset you are that you couldn’t get your way, I am just as upset because I couldn’t let you have your way.
