The Existential Crisis!

A couple of posts ago, I wrote about my friend C and her existential crisis. My brother was curious and he hoped it wasn't a health crisis as before?! If it had been, I wouldn't have mentioned it as a matter of fact thing.

Actually, she had a faceoff with another parent at school about parenting! This other parent is quite opinionated (as is everyone else really; I mean, who the heck is not opinionated these days?!) and she proceeded to give C a lecture on parenting. When one's child is 5 years old and his world revolves around another child who is 4 years old, there is no option but to bond with the other parent. And if the children have issues, we must not make them our issues because the said children will get over it and we, the parents, will forever be doomed into an awkward awkwardness on the school playground!!

Today, the issue seems to have been resolved and I can safely conclude that The Existential Crisis has officially ended on a rather positive note.

In a not so strange coincidence, G and I have been talking about parenting the last couple of days. We definitely have different styles of dealing with our children. But then we have different sets of children. We have to use whatever skills we have to work with the children we have. There is no right or wrong - it is quite literally what works for us!

Recently, I came across a phrase in my scholarly readings for my online course. I immediately picked up the phone and called G. The phrase is "Productive Conflict" and I realized that that is how we communicate. We did agree to respectfully disagree with each other a long time ago. Friendships won't last if people get too opinionated or too unwilling to look at the other point of view. They won't even last if people are unapologetic.

Going back to my friend's existential crisis, I must confess that I may have rescued C the other day; however, I got to learn from her in the process as well. She will not disagree to her faults and she will most likely be the better person and take that first step to fix things if it is important for her children. A little honesty and humility go a long way!

Noteworthy Remarks: I am glad I came across the phrase "Productive Conflict". Sometimes I wonder why I choose to spend time with someone who seems to be on the opposite spectrum of my point of view?! But then again, it all makes sense when I think about it!!