The Parenting Gap

Shawn is such a good Dad. He loves his kids, sacrifices for them everyday, and even indulges my periodic thoughts of having more. But like every man, he has his shortcomings. One of which is the weird way he chooses what misbehavior gets disciplined and what does not.

Take for instance his latest battle with Jax. For whatever reason, Jax's newest thing is repeating the phrase "booty butt" over nd over and over. And over. It doesn't really bother me (in fact, I may or may not be guilty of using the phrase myself from time to time), but it downright boils Shawn's blood.

I'm not sure what it is about the phrase, but those two words together flowing from our son's mouth send Shawn reeling. He doesn't mind the "booty", seeing as how he's yet to reprimand Jax when he calls any of us "booty" (which he frequently does; I am, in fact, looking into legally changing my name to Mommy Booty York), and I know it's not the "butt" part, because he himself is frequently heard clling the kids "butt-munch", "butt-head", and so forth. No, it's the joining of the words that pulls the punch, inexplicable to me, but then again, so is his habit of smelling his food before he eats.

I guess it's a little like my refusal to let Ryan watch some of the "tween" dramas on tv, all the while letting her pull up a chair next to me to watch Desperate Housewives. Although, in my defense, I do cover her eyes and ears any time Edie or Gabrielle get anywhere near a man.