“Learning to dislike children at an early age saves a lot of expense and aggravation later in life.”       (Robert Byrne)

This quote is obviously sarcastic, but sarcasm is only funny when it hints at the truth. Mr. Byrne has touched upon the truth that sometimes it’s almost impossible to like your kids. They annoy us, they bug us, they drive us crazy by making dumb decisions and ridiculous requests. And then the next moment, they can crush us with one smile. Byrne’s suggestion is to go ahead and dislike them before they annoy us: in other words, cut ‘em off at the pass, if you will. I actually believe that he’s not far off from the truth. In order to have great balanced, respectful relationships with our kids, we have to be able to rise above the fray. This doesn’t mean dislike them, per say. But it does mean that we should let go of the need for them to perform or behave for our sake. They are the kids; we are the grownups. They need us to not need them.