Please, Put Down the Toilet Seat.

If I leave one mark on this world, it will be a son that puts down the toilet seat.  Seems simple enough, I'm sure you're reading this wondering, why in the world I would choose something as insignificant as the toilet seat as the sword I want to die on...hang in there with me.  It will make total sense.

As parents we want to have kids that are gloriously successful.  We ooze with love for our kids, we give them much, we sacrifice things in our adult lives to make their lives better.  It's what we do.  Oh sure, there are lots of articles out there highlighting the fact that kids these days are self absorbed, whiny, spoiled little people and certainly now more than ever, kids have it pretty good.  (No, they have it darned good.)  But at the end of day, what parent doesn't want to give their kids every tool possible to make their lives better, to encourage them to reach their fullest potential.  None that I know.  As we navigate parenthood, and heaven knows, many times it feels like a full mount exploration of Mt. Everest, we begin to look around and realize that we are all in this same mess together.  My husband and I might approach it differently than the next set of parents, but at the end of day we are all just trying to send forth good human beings, that can get their shit together and hopefully, with God willing, be self sufficient someday. 

And that brings me to the toilet seat.  Because believe you me, that's a fight to the death for a momma with a boy.  You see, because we are raising children in a time when no greater privilege has been afforded to them, it sometimes feels like our kids have everything they could ever want.  They are spoiled, and despite the fact that I work to make sure my son understands where money comes from, how much things cost and to take pride in a honest days work - he's still living a pretty good life.  He still get's what he needs plus some, and I want him to, I want all kids to get that (and some don't...but that's for another day).  The bottom line is this, the fight I face with raising my son is not the struggle to get him access to education, tools and technology - first world comforts we enjoy.  The fight I face is getting him to be a respectful, compassionate person that looks at the world's situation through a variety of perspectives.  That sounds complicated, I am about to over simplify it.  I win this battle - I raise my sword over my head in victory - when he puts down the toilet seat.  Yep, it's that simple.  Because every time the lid goes down, he's doing that not because it changes his world, but because he understands it changes mine (and his sisters).  And that, my friends, means he's seeing things through someone else's glasses.

Plus, as perk, he'll be a great husband. You can thank me later.