I originally thought that the hardest part about being a parent would be over once all of my children were no longer toddlers.
But as they slowly transitioned into adolescents—one by one—I hastily realized that my hardest days as a father lie ahead.
You tell your child or child to not do something, only for them to spite you the minute they get a chance. I had to learn ways of navigating their reactions plus what they were anticipating from me, plus in a sense use “reverse psychology” to get them to conform to my rules. More often than not I think like I’m talking to a brick wall. I tell them particularly that they are not allowed to adjust the control unit for the central heating plus cooling system. My wife plus I are the ones who control the indoor climate at home; otherwise the air conditioning system would be left on at 66 degrees plus we’d come condo to a fried Heating, Ventilation and A/C system. In the Wintertide our kids would have the heat up so high that our propane bill would be outrageous! All of us gave up on scolding them plus finally bought a plastic lockbox to put over the control unit for the central Heating, Ventilation and A/C system. Somedays I wonder where I went wrong as a parent to need a lockbox over the Heating, Ventilation and A/C control unit, but the pragmatic side of my brain doesn’t care what it takes to maintain our energy budget. Hopefully it will program them into avoiding the urge to adjust the temperature if they go so more than 2 weeks or years without having the chance. Perhaps at some point we won’t need a lockbox on the Heating, Ventilation and A/C control unit.