A Two-Year-Old’s Mantra

Recently, my wife began her career as a Mary Kay consultant—while raising two small children. Here’s an actual photo of her in action:

Thing is, she's excellent at both. Maybe it's due to the daily affirmation she has by her computer. I tease her that this affirmation reminds me a bit of Stuart Smalley’s mantra from Saturday Night Live: “Because I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and, doggone it, people like me.”

Which obviously would lead anyone to think about what a two-year-old’s daily affirmation might look like. Maybe: “I’m cute enough, I’m manipulative enough and, doggone it, people cave for me!”

It’s true. How could I resist when my two-year-old daughter, Isabella, walks around the house singing songs by my favorite band, The Beatles? It's enough to make any parent proclaim: "Toblerone for everyone!"

Except that the other day Isabella sang the 60’s Beatles hit "She Loves You" like this: “I love ME yeah, yeah, yeah. I love me yeah, yeah, yeah!”

I guess it's not all bad. Experts do say “You can’t love others until you love yourself." She didn’t mean it to be egotistical—yet she did sound like football star Terrell Owens, who’s famous for saying, “I love me a piece of me!”

Speaking of football, sometimes I think the feds should provide free steroids just for parents.

After all, the job requires super-human strength and the agility to keep offspring from doing the cannonball into the toilet.

Because when you’re a parent, doggone it, mantras just don’t cut.

If you enjoyed this, please spread the joy.

Copyright Christopher Hollenback, 2007, all rights reserved. I am introverted, after all.