A wise Biff once told me, “Whenever you’re doing something out of love, it’s always the right thing.”

This was advice she’d given me when I asked if she thought I was fucking up my kids.

In this day and age, mental health issues are so much more prevalent than they’ve been in the past.

This is a good thing. A GREAT thing, actually.

But…

It also comes with a side of parenting advice that has me questioning every move I make.

Of course I don’t want to just slap my kids upside their heads and tell them to go figure it out for themselves – which was definitely more the norm back in the day – but I can’t help but wonder if some of the enlightenment of today has caused a surge of manipulation amongst kids who prey on their parents’ emotions.

The first option of slapping them and telling them to go away doesn’t appeal to me, but the second option – assuming that everything presented to you is the truth – doesn’t sit well either.

When do you know if it’s real? Maybe it’s just teenagers experiencing normal hormonal emotions that they don’t understand yet? Maybe it’s a jumbled mess of both? Or maybe it’s fake.

When I feel it in my bones (my bullshit meter) that something is off, not only can I not just keep quiet, I often end up exploding. This is not good, but man does it feel good to get it out.

*side note: How do people keep emotions in? This is foreign to me. I highly suggest if you’re a person who bottles things up – LET IT OUT!!! Life changing. Seriously. 10 out of 10.

Anyway, once I get a sense that I’m being controlled and/or manipulated, I might not handle things in the best way.

My verbal dumps are equal to a longer version of Jack Nicholson’s “You can’t handle the truth!” In A Few Good Men. (I actually never saw that movie but I have a strong feeling it’s the same just from that clip.)

Then I maybeee sometimes regret the things I’ve said, hence the, “Biff, am I fucking up my kids?” And her response being, “If it’s done with love, it’s always the right thing.”

My mini (sometimes maxi) tirades, although loud and probably a little scary, are always backed up with concern for their well-being. So I figure if I just love them no matter what, it will (hopefully) all fall into place.