My qualifications as a curmudgeon

In the interests of full disclosure, I suppose I must admit that I am, in fact, the meanest mother in our county. Most recently for:

• making my daughter carry her own sweatshirt while we were on a walk together; and
  
• not meeting my daughter's schoolbus outside with an umbrella (as I did in her younger days), so that last week she had to (actually, she got to!) run the 20 yards to our garage through the rain (and preliminary scientific evidence suggests that she did not, in fact, melt).
  

Odd how these neglectful and harsh behaviors on my part at first seemed to make my daughter wonder if her mother didn't love her! But she is old enough, after a discussion accompanied by several winks and cuddles, to understand that unnecessary coddling does not equal love and that for her own good I do not wish to raise another Princess-and-the-Pea. She gets it. And in the meantime, I pride myself on my formidable and longstanding reputation as the meanest mom in the county.

And I am not trying to win any popularity contests. And I don't care what the other parents say or what the other kids are doing. And yes, I do sound just like my mother, bless her heart. And so may you sound just like your mother someday, if you are incredibly fortunate. So in the meantime, deal with it.