Carefully Orchestrated Chaos

Some Fodder:
Having children makes one no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist. ~ Michael Levine
Further Fodder:
I am listening to Dave Brubeck, one of the most respected and prolific jazz pianists ever to grace this earth. He is a masterful musician in perhaps the most difficult of musical genres: jazz. Jazz pianists have to be in such command of their abilities that they can stay focused on what it is that they want to do while also being in tune with their band mates. Jazz is all about improvisation – carefully orchestrated chaos.
"That’s what good parenting is: playing jazz piano. You have to hold on to who you are and what you want AND you have to be in tune with your other family members. That takes an extreme amount of self-control, which in turn takes an extreme amount of practice and work. Dave Brubeck and pianists like him were born with skill, but they put in hours of effort and study to become masters. Parenting is no different. Without working on your self and your skills, you’ll end up making noise instead.
~Hal Runkel, LMFT, author of ScreamFree Parenting:Raising Your Kids by Keeping Your Cool

(I love MFTs ; )