Dad's Perspective: You Meant the 25th of THIS Month?
By Jonathan White, Triplet Dad
Originally printed in February, 2005

It's a few days after Christmas now.  Things are settling down and we're almost
 back to "normal."  And, I just received a reminder email from Renée.  My bad.  
I know the deadline for submitting articles for the TMM Newsletter is the 25th 
of each month.  But aren't deadlines meant to be broken?  Come on, it's not 
like the IRS won't accept your tax forms after April 15th, right?  So what 
other deadlines do we impose on ourselves and our kids and why?

Some deadlines appear to be pretty straight forward: Christmas shopping has to 
be done before Christmas morning, birthday shopping has to be done before that 
person's birthday, you have to get your vehicle inspected before the end of 
the month indicated on the window sticker, your kids have to be potty trained 
before they are 3-years old, etc.  But creative exceptions abound, especially 
for HOM parents.

Christmas shopping really doesn't have to be done by Christmas.  It only has 
to be done before the first time you see the gift recipient after December 25th.  
If you aren't going to see the gift recipient before, say, mid-January, then 
take advantage of the post-Christmas sales or be extra frugal and practice the 
art of re-gifting.  My sister and I have been re-gifting the same porcelain 
goose for some five years now.  It is one of the most anticipated gifts at 
every birthday and at Christmas now.  We just can't let Mom see us re-gifting 
her gift, as bizarre as it is....

Birthday shopping for not-too-near relatives and friends can also be delayed.  
My brother and I have been telling each other what we are going to give each 
other for birthdays for many years now.  We have both successfully delayed 
shopping for almost five years now.  And, the best thing about it is that we 
can "give" each other fantastic gifts that cost an arm and a leg while saving 
a ton of money, and the anticpation makes the gift so much more exciting.  
Ican't wait to get the radio controlled airplane he gave me three years ago, 
although the repair manual for the pickup truck I sold a year ago has lost 
it's appeal.

The deadline for getting your vehicle inspected is one of my favorites.  I 
get a warm feeling every year when I get an extra month or two or four out 
of the old inspection sticker.  Instead of $29 for twelve months, I prefer 
to think of it as "suggested retail" of $2.42 a month.  If you're really 
careful, you can get the bargain basement price of $1.80 a month or less.  
And, if you have an older vehicle that is questionable on passing the 
emissions, go on the first business day after New Years; all the stations 
are changing their stickers and the computers are off-line (otherwise I 
would have had to sell the pickup truck two years ago).  The current 
sticker is up in May.  I wonder if I can make it until July....

I love it when people ask if the kids are potty trained.  "Oh, yeah, did it 
in an hour.  We just told them to do it and, presto, that was it.  Piece of 
cake.  Although it did get in the way of us watching Oprah and Dr. Phil, 
and my bon-bons melted."  It's like there's some deadline that all kids must 
be able to use the toilet by 2-years old.  Yeah, right.  I'd much prefer they 
stay in diapers until they are five if they would pick up on the idea of 
sleeping in until at least 10am on Saturdays!

We have a relative who claims all her kids were potty trained after they 
were a year old.  I think it's more like she was trained to put them on a 
potty every ten minutes and she had no other responsibilities in life.  I 
would pay to have pictures of her house in its immaculate condition during 
this time.  All my kids will be potty trained after they are 1-year old also.  
Afterall, doesn't 4-years old come after 1-year old?