Parents do you never disagree in front of the kid?

'Parents should never disagree in front of the kids'. We are guilty parents. I wish we were not. We disagree, quite vehemently in front of our kid sometimes.

First Scene: I was really upset that day. I don't remember why. I just could not bear to see anything astray. And children are synonymous to astray. My little one first did not come to eat dinner in time, then did not clean her room, then refused to even do some bit of her homework and then did not agree to go to sleep in time. All regular and easily condoned acts for her. She is otherwise a very conscientious kid, but everyone needs to take leeway, what’s wrong with that! But my reaction was cataclysmic. I was really really upset. About what? I was upset that, she refused to complete some minor part of a homework, she did not abide by the time, she would not get enough sleep and therefore will not wake up for school next day. All my liberal parenting ideas shoved out of the window, I was the authoritarian parent that moment. No revolutionary thoughts of how does it all matter, she is just a kid etc. I was yelling at her. Expecting her to follow instructions because I was angry!I was a genuine pressure cooker blowing the whistle that moment. And who should rescue the little one from Mom's wrath? Papa of course. He came down hard and harsh at me. “This is not going to help. Leave her! You go to bed I will bring her when she is ready.” Am I glad he took over from me that moment? Of course I am.

Scene changes! Our little one is at the table. Hungry and restless this evening. She had already been quite cranky for long enough and we were at our wit’s end. In her fidgety mood, she drops a breakable piece of dinner set down on the floor. It falls with a crash and breaks into thousand indiscernible pieces. Papa, who had been bearing with her ill behaviour for some time now, blows his top. I notice he is about to take out the steam on her. I step in. “Have you forgotten the cracked I-Pad screen? You also break things by mistake…!” He cooled down after I had quoted some of his mistakes. We disagreed again and quite vehemently mind you!

We are a couple with lots of lapses, permit me to admit. But we have our daughter's best interest in mind. We could condone each other’s mistakes and appear united in these difficult moments. But let’s not underestimate the child’s judgment, won’t she notice the stupidity of it all. Won’t she begin to believe that adults can be excused stupid moments? And the other significant adults in her life will not even make an effort to protect her in these moments? Won't we truly crush our kid if we do not check each other in these moments of irrationality, when one of us loses it? I think our kid needs to learn to stand up to injustice, no matter who inflicts it. And then again, I may be wrong.

Tell me parents, don't you ever disagree in front of your kids?