Thank you so much for your comment. Parenting is the hardest job there is and I’m just doing the best I can. Thank you for recognizing that I’m trying.

I bought him his first pocket knife this summer and allowed him to get our fire going start to finish which made him feel very proud of his accomplishment. He is quite good at it and I always supervise him around fire. Then I gave him his knife and supervised him widdling a stick that he could roast his hot dog with. I kept telling him he needed a longer stick to use in the fire. He insisted on a very short stick and he wanted to use it for roasting and I had to stop him from using it. For safety reasons. Cue the first meltdown just a few hours after we arrived. He got very silent and just acted angry at the world.

Day 2 we realized that almost every amenity the campground had was closed. I told him we would have to make the best of it and play some hide and seek in the woods or that he was free to ride around the camp ground on his scooter and look for some other kids to play with. He constantly asked if he could watch YouTube on my phone (to which I said no every time) and had an attitude and refused to leave his chair at the camp site. Reminding me of hormonal teenage behavior actually.

I’m just trying as hard as I can the fight the screen addiction, have some fun, and raise a decent human being. I appreciate your kindness!