Last week, I overheard one woman tell another, “I’m having a hard time with him lately. When he goes to his dad’s, it’s anything goes. Then when he comes back to me he doesn’t listen and has a horrible attitude. And I have to be the bad guy.”

This past weekend, I heard a father (different family entirely) say, “I get so little time with my kids. I don’t want to spend it enforcing rules! I want them to be carefree and have fun so they have happy memories of their visits with me.”