{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"April's Fool","description":"On this week's Keepin It Real, Cam Marston hypothesizes on what a parenting podcast from him and his wife would sound like. ----- My wife and I sat together at the beach last week laughing as we retold stories and reminded ourselves of the humor of parenting. Especially as Gen X parents. We decided to compose a social media post together. The date was April first, and that date matters. The post read the following: We are frequently asked how we\u2019ve raised four perfect children. Here\u2019s our response: We are excited to announce our new Parenting Podcast called Gen X Parenting Tools. Go check it out. We listed some episode titles: Episode One: Building a Foundation: Hose water and neglect Episode Two: Who needs effective discipline? The effective use of ridicule and humiliation Episode Three: At the Heart of it All is Cynicism. Lots of people, too many in fact, thought we were serious. Across the top of the post, it read Launching April First. We thought that would be a dead giveaway. Several asked where they could find the podcast. One cheered enthusiastically, agreeing that we did have four perfect kids, and was excited to hear the show. Lots wrote in reply, \u201cI can\u2019t wait\u201d or \u201cI\u2019ll listen.\u201d My guess is that we were too subtle. I had hoped people would add new episode titles like Episode Four: Serves You Right \u2013 Whatever Just Happened You Had it Coming. Or Episode Five: Maybe it Will Scar, Maybe it Won\u2019t \u2013 Either Way Stop Crying. One person understood quickly that it was a hoax and she wrote: As soon as I saw the line about your four perfect kids, I knew it was a joke. Well, we\u2019re glad you got the joke but, ouch!   If my wife and I had a podcast on parenting the title would be \u201cHere\u2019s how to fail only about half the time, try not to get your kids to hate you, and hope you get lucky at parenting.\u201d Today, I worry that our practice of making the kids run a lap around the house if they burped at the table at mealtime may have been too extreme. Are they somewhere now sharing their traumatized memories of running outside barefoot in the dark in their pajamas on cold nights? Screaming the whole way around the house \u201cIt was an accident. It was an accident.\u201d Our podcast would be full of situations where my wife and I didn\u2019t know what to do and still don\u2019t. \u201cShould we have allowed him to go to that concert?\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know. I\u2019m not sure we did the right thing. I hope we didn\u2019t mess him up. I guess time will tell.\u201d \u201cShould we have made her change her clothes into something different before that event?\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know. I\u2019m not sure we did the right thing. I hope we didn\u2019t mess her up. I guess time will tell.\u201d My conclusion is that in parenting, just like in April Fools posts, there needs to be some self-deprecating humor, less subtlety, and a good bit of praying we didn\u2019t mess it up and that it will all work out in the end. However, that hose water thing \u2013 that may come back to haunt us. I\u2019m Cam Marston and I\u2019m just trying to Keep It Real. ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"