By Encouragement or By Example

My son's response to being told to go to bed is an earnest, well-conceived (and extremely funny) diatribe on how I should tell his sisters' teachers that they are giving too much homework. There are "bullet points" about the health benefits of sleep and about adding up the hours in a day. Before I know it, I've been following the argument for fifteen minutes, and he is no closer to bed than he was before.
 
Call me an ineffective parent. Really. Go ahead. Because, believe me, sometimes I feel like one. When our kids are babies, there may be lots of things we can't control, but by and large, we run the show. As they get older, it becomes clear that we may be the CEOs, but we are surrounded by not-so-small-anymore managers, each with his or her own agenda, and by golly, those managers are really pretty good at what they do--largely because we have trained them that way.
 
By encouragement or by example, we have trained our mini-managers to do as much as possible in a day. Don't we get up early or stay up late to finish a project or clean the kitchen or do our taxes--because it just won't all get done in the normal hours of a day?
 
By encouragement or by example, we have taught them to speak up for what they believe in, whether it's social justice or just the right to choose when to do chores. Don't we come home railing about the wrongs we've endured (or conquered) at work or the tasks we've refused to do?
 
By encouragement or by example, we have taught them that creativity and resourcefulness go a long way. Don't we find ways to rephrase things to get what we want and craft crafty arguments to sway people?
 
Which brings me back to my son and his very creative diatribe in defense of his sister. What can I say? I have to respect it.
 
And when I'm struggling to wake up both sleepy him and his sleepy sisters in the morning, I'll remind myself that it's all thanks to my encouragement and example.