How My Former Career as an Innkeeper Made Me Suck in Some Aspects of Parenthood:

My husband and I owned and managed a AAA four-diamond inn for sixteen years. We prided ourselves on exceptional customer service and even though we’re no longer in the hospitality business, stepping out of the mindset of an innkeeper is damn-near impossible.

Take, for example, our household. We run a tight ship much like we did when managing our business—because when you have five kids, your household is, essentially, a business. There are synced calendars, chore charts, laundry schedules, and even a proper protocol for loading the dishwasher.

Brushing teeth a chore? Trust.

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But while our skillsets as innkeepers come in handy in parenthood, it does not serve us well when it comes to catering to our kids. For sixteen years, our response to every guest request was a resounding “yes!” regardless of how absurd or inconvenient the request was. We once replaced someone’s toilet during his stay because it was too low. It was our mentality that if we could make it happen, we would.

Turning the off switch on that mentality is something we actively have to retrain ourselves to do. When one of our kids asks for a glass of milk (okay fine…they ask for sugary juice, not milk), our kneejerk reaction is, “but of course!” It doesn’t come naturally to tell them to get off their lazy asses and get it themselves.

Our oldest is now sixteen and youngest (twins) are nine. And still we find ourselves in hospitality mode rather than parenting mode. We try, and after all these years, I think we’re getting the hang of it. But if one of our kids goes to one of your kids’ houses and demands that you cut their chicken fingers into dime-size pieces, don’t hate on them. It’s our fault.