April 14, 2008

So, as many of you know, I'm leaving tomorrow to head to Pittsburgh for the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. (More on that later.)

I was sort of prepping my 6-almost-7 year-old daughter the other day, and I said, "So I'm going to be gone next week."

DAUGHTER #2: Oh, Mom, why do you have to go?

(I explain that it will be lots of work, that Mom will be very busy working very hard, etc., really, really hard) "And besides, you'll have so much fun with Daddy! You know how much fun you'll have with him."

D#2: No I won't.

ME: Why not? What do you mean? You and your daddy have so much fun.

D#2: But when you're gone, Daddy's…Daddy gets….

ME: Daddy gets what?

D#2: He gets like you!

ME: What? (Taken aback.) What do you mean? Like…strict?

D#2: Yeah. Like strict and mean.

So I'm torn between laughing my butt off (because that's so true that I'm the Bad Guy Mom and he's the Let's Have Fun and Stay Up Past Your Bedtimes and Eat Junk and Watch TV Dad) and being totally offended.

Sigh.

So later, we were at lunch and I told Music Man what she said, and he started laughing and said to her and her brother, "See, that's right. When Mom's around, she gets to be the Bad Guy and we can have fun, but when she's not, someone has to make sure stuff gets done." 

Gee, thanks, honey. 

So what's it like in your household? Mom's the bad guy, Dad's the fun guy?