Parenting is a delicate balance of patience, love, and holding onto your sanity with a thin thread. But every now and then, that thread snaps—and last night, mine snapped hard...
We’d just survived five days of family vacation. Picture sun, relaxation, and family time... except it wasn’t any of that. It was five days of constant bickering between my 14-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. She can’t even breathe without him throwing in a snarky comment, and of course, she takes the bait every single time. He belittles her, she gets hurt, and I’m stuck in the middle trying to play referee. I’d hoped after all this family bonding, they might learn to get along—or at least stop using me as the buffer.
So, there we are, on our final night of vacation. I thought, Finally, we can end this trip on a peaceful note. We’ll just grab some dinner and head home. I gave them the choice of where to eat, thinking this would be a fun way for them to work together. Because I clearly forgot who I was dealing with.
First, my daughter wanted Zaxby’s. Immediately vetoed by my son because apparently, we had chicken last night, and God forbid we eat chicken two days in a row. Fine, your turn, buddy. He picked Wendy’s. Of course, my daughter wasn't having that.
At this point, I should’ve just pulled into the first fast food place I saw and called it a day. But no, I tried to reason with them. My daughter, the eternal peacemaker, even threw out Taco Bell, which has always been a family favorite. Surely, we could all agree on the gloriousness of Taco Bell.
Nope. My son shut that down, too. No tacos for him. (This same son—the one who vetoed every place we suggested—casually mentioned on the plane ride home, “I could go for some Taco Bell.”)
I finally snapped: “Pizza it is!”
You would think that would settle things, but no. My daughter, who had suggested everything under the sun, now decided to throw a full-blown meltdown about the pizza, even offering to go to Wendy’s—the place she just said no to five minutes ago. At this point, I was ready to throw the whole SUV into reverse and drive home without feeding any of them.
But I gave in. Because after five days of playing the human shield between these two, I was done. Wendy’s it is. FINE. Problem solved, right?
Wrong.
Just when I thought the decision was final, my son—my sweet, opinionated, stubborn son—asked if he could order chicken nuggets.
CHICKEN. NUGGETS.
The same damn chicken that had been on the table this whole time. At this point, I couldn’t even process what I was hearing. My brain short-circuited. I lost it. The kind of parental breakdown where you’re ranting about fast food while your kids stare at you like you’ve completely lost your mind. Which, by the way, I had.
“Are you serious? We could’ve had chicken at Zaxby’s! Chicken at Taco Bell! Chicken at every place we passed! And NOW, after all this, you want chicken nuggets?!”
Cue silence. My kids sat there, wide-eyed, watching their dad go full-on crazy. It’s a special kind of parenting moment when you realize your kids are looking at you like you’ve finally snapped. And honestly, I had. Parenting teens and tweens is like living in an alternate reality where logic doesn’t exist, and every day is a new adventure in seeing how far you can be pushed before losing your mind.
So, yeah. I lost my mind over chicken nuggets. And in hindsight, it wasn’t even about the nuggets, or the pizza, or any of the food. It was five days of sibling bickering, broken compromise, and pure exhaustion coming to a head in a Wendy’s parking lot. It was the straw that broke this dad’s back.
Next time, I’m picking the restaurant. No votes, no arguments. Just pizza. And definitely no chicken nuggets.
Add comment
Comments