I really try to be a kind parent.
I don’t want to be the sort of person who rules my children’s lives with an iron fist. I know that I didn’t appreciate growing up in a household where there was no reasoning with my parents beyond telling me, “because I told you so.” inside, I try to see my children as individuals. I know that everybody has unique perspectives and needs and I want to encourage my kids to share theirs with me. This is why I have been working overtime to earn extra money so we could have enough indoor air quality control to keep my son happy. I thought it was difficult enough that my children have been kept back from attending physical school. It’s unsafe for them to be inside a public school building breathing the same indoor air as all of their friends. Normally, they can’t even afford to keep the heating and cooling system running in our school district. The thought of having this dirty air circulating in the presence of our children is more than I could handle. As such, I don’t mind that my kids are at home enjoying our own central heating, cooling, and air quality control system. The only problem is, my son insists that he can’t study unless the air conditioning unit is operating at a fairly extreme degree. He tells me he can’t concentrate on his homework unless the cooling system is turned down to 65 degrees each day. Of course, I am strapped for cash and worried about the energy bill. It would be easy to disregard my son’s complaints and tell him to toughen up without air conditioning… But the truth is that I want more AC as well.