Marsha?....Greeeeggg?...Peter?

This week we had the pleasure of following through on a court ordered mediation session.
Not the stuff that the Brady's would have had to deal with but our story just the same.


It seems to me now that during those great old episodes of The Brady Bunch, their blended family always worked out perfectly by the end of 30 minutes. Mr. and Mrs. Brady, always in the height of fashion, calmly and reasonably dealt out morsels of parental brilliance in a loving and thoughtful manner.


Of course, as a kid I thought, "How cool, I want more brothers and sisters." My normal, vanilla bland parents who were still married were definitely crimping my new found appreciation for the expanded version of family.


So this week, as I drove my 15 year old step daughter to the counselor, I hearkened back to what Mr. Brady might have said. "You know honey," I started, feeling pretty good about the term of endearment. "Your dad and I really want you to be able to talk to us about things that are bothering you." ..................Dead silence...................................Uh huh..........................................


OK, score one for the kid.


"Well, we just think that maybe you need someone to help you express yourself and figure out why you aren't turning in your homework and getting F's in school."...................Dead silence.................K.....................................................................................................................


At this point, as I try to now channel Mrs. Brady I can feel the irritation and frustration that my father (a Marine Corps Sgt.) must have felt when dealing with my brother and I.


This wasn't working out the way I had planned! Didn't these people know that we all come to realize that we love each other and that grades instantly turned to A's, children speak more than 1 syllable when spoken to, and that although Greg scratched the car or Tiger gets lost that we all laugh about it in the end when things go back to normal?


Even though I think I handled this situation with as much love and support as I could muster, I realized that Mr. Brady didn't have: a Bitch for an ex-wife, $650.00 garnished from his wages each month for child support and a $3500.00 attorney bill. I think the whole Brady clan would have been in counseling had they have to live through what we all have.



I have now changed my parenting style. My parents were right after all.