What's Your Score?

Sharpen your number 2 pencil, because it’s time to take the official “That’s Another Story” P.A.T. (Parental Aptitude Test). For each of the following questions, choose the answer that best describes how you would react to the given scenario. When you’re done, we’ll add up your score and see what your parenting style is.

1. It’s time to plan your son’s sixth birthday party. When you sit down with him to write the guest list, he includes the girl in his class that is rumored to spend a lot of time in the principal’s office. Your son really likes her, but you are worried that she’ll ruin the party with her bad behavior. What do you do?

A. Invite her anyway. How bad can she be? Maybe the teacher just doesn’t know how to handle her in the classroom.

B. Send an invitation to her and another one to the school principal. Since they already have an established relationship, maybe he can keep an eye on her while you greet the guests, serve the milk and carrot sticks, and cut the sugar-free cake.

C. You don’t have the patience to deal with a badly behaved child at the party. Instead, tell your son that you invited the girl but she couldn’t come. A little white lie won’t hurt at his age.



2. You’ve just finished straightening your daughter’s room, and you’ve found an alarming number of candy wrappers shoved under her bed. Do you…

A. Wait…you were cleaning her room? She’s supposed to do that every weekend. Isn’t that why she gets an allowance? Besides, a little candy couldn’t hurt. She’s got great teeth and she could stand to gain a few pounds.

B. Immediately call your mother to complain again about how she spoils the kids. No matter how many times you’ve told her that your eight year old can’t have hard candy, she’s constantly putting Werther’s Originals in your daughter’s pocket, her purse, her backpack, and her desk.

C. Throw away the trash and see if you can find an unopened Kit Kat for yourself.




3. You are enjoying some time to yourself at the grocery store when you see your son’s fourth grade teacher in aisle four. You…

A. Notice that she’s alone and decide to invite her over for a cookout and a pool party later that afternoon. The kids won’t mind hanging out with their teacher in bathing suits.

B. Keep shopping, and if you happen to run into her, make sure you comment on the cart full of organic fruits and vegetables you’re buying to feed the family. Bite your tongue when you see she’s buying nothing but Oreos and Diet Coke.

C. Do your best to avoid her, but wind up coming face-to-face with her in front of the crackers and snacks. Just being around her makes you so nervous that you blurt out something terribly embarrassing about how your son loves animal crackers but has afraid to eat the elephants (because they’re endangered).



4. Usually you drive your kids to school or walk the short distance from home, but one day, they begin nagging you about riding the bus instead. You suspect the reason is that…

A. The kids want to experience the simple American tradition of riding a big yellow bus.

B. The bus driver always listens to the hip hop dance music station that you’ve banned from your car.

C. They are embarrassed to be seen every morning with you blowing kisses from the window of your loud and rusty Subaru.



5. Halloween is only two weeks away when your daughter announces that she wants to dress up as the planet Saturn to go trick-or-treating. While you are impressed with her creativity, you quickly realize she’s given you an impossible task. You’ll never find that costume at a costume shop. So, instead you…

A. Ignore her tears and just tell her she’ll have to be something else this year. How about a princess or a fairy? You already have the authentic looking Cinderella dress you got at Disney World.

B. Call every tailor and custom sewer in the yellow pages until you find someone willing to sew a custom Saturn costume. No matter what the cost, your daughter must have what she wants.

C. When you stop by Party City just to see what’s still available, you see an M & M costume that looks like the same size and shape as the ringed planet. With some fabric paint and material already on hand, you turn the M & M costume inside out, paint on some pastel clouds, and sew a makeshift ring around the center. Your daughter thinks it looks perfect, and you know you couldn’t beat the price.



Add up your score by giving yourself 1 point for each time you answered “A,” 2 points for each “B” and 3 points for each “C” answer. If your total score was:



Between zero and five: You are relaxed and comfortable catching whatever life throws your way. You know that being flexible makes life more fun and you try to teach your children to live the same way. The motto you live by is “take it easy” and you believe in the simple things in life.



Between six and ten: You’re not afraid to go the distance for your family and that’s because they deserve the best that life has to offer. You set strict rules because you know that children need limits. Nothing is too troublesome or too expensive when it comes to your child’s happiness and that includes feeding them the most nutritious foods available.



Eleven or higher: You are a hard working parent with a good sense of humor. You know that most problems can be solved simply and creatively. Your love for your children sometimes leads to funny or embarrassing situations, but you know that at the end of the day, the worst your family will do is roll their eyes and ask when they’re going to read about their latest adventures on the internet.