Are they the boss of you? Find out!

We all know we’re really supposed to be the boss of our children, but in this generation of “Helicopter Parents” and overscheduled and pampered children are you truly running the show? Take this short quiz to find out who the boss in your house really is.

1. When your 12 year old child has a hockey tournament scheduled on exactly the same weekend as your six-years-in-the-making Girls Getaway do you:a. Delete the email and disable the computer and phones so your son can’t  find out when/where the tournament will be.b. Convince a team-mate’s parents that your child will be a welcome addition to their road trip (neglecting to tell them about that pesky lice condition which just came up).

   c. Tell him about the tournament and let him know he could go if only Granny weren’t so selfish with her dialysis appointments.

   d. Cancel the weekend, take him to the tournament, cheer at every goal, stay in the world’s crappiest motel room in Upper Armpit Ontario and then tell everyone you had the best time. Maybe in another six years…

2. You have five minutes to get out of the house and drop your two year old daughter at the babysitter before your overdue hair appointment. She’s just fallen asleep and is showing the first signs of a cold. You decide to:a. Slip a warm hat, sweater and boots on her before she wakes up and whisk her into the car, willing her not to cough until you’ve left the babysitters.b. Trick a passing neighbour into coming into your house and watching TV for an hour while your daughter catches up on some well needed sleep.

   c. Call the hairdresser and arrange for another appointment later that day – and throw in an extra couple of highlights just because.

   d. Cancel the hair appointment, dump a box of store bought colour on your head and pray that the lighting will be dim at the gala dinner tomorrow night.

3. Your five year old is having a screaming fit in the store about the $50.00 piece of crap toy he desperately wants you to buy:a. You say “No” and leave the store.b. You say “Ask Daddy when you come here on the weekend.”

   c. You say “Yes”, put it in the cart and then take it out at the checkout when you distract him with a 25 cent lollipop.

   d. You say “Yes if you’ll just shut up. But only this one time.”…“And don’t tell your Dad”

4. You’re at a “kids invited” dinner party and your children are the only ones not interested in the movie in another room that has the others quiet. You:a. Lead them back into the movie room and tell them that their alternative is sitting in a dark room upstairs that you’re pretty sure the Rottweiler never goes into.b. Pour yourself another glass of wine, and tell your husband to deal with it.

   c. Tell them if they’ll be quiet for just half an hour longer they can stay up for an extra hour and candy tomorrow night (you’re lying, FYI).

   d. Explain to the other dinner guests that your precious children are not entertained by mindless spoon fed drivel and that they should be more than welcome at the dinner table with the adults as part of their developmental skills training.

5. Your Grade One daughter comes home with a flyer and a request for parental volunteers for a field trip – tomorrow – the same day you have arranged to catch up with an old girlfriend in the trendy restaurant du jour. You:a. Tell her you’re pretty sure the keener moms will have already filled those slots.b. Call your husband and guilt him into doing “just this one trip that means so much.”

   c. Reluctantly promise in lieu, to attend the school’s spring play the following week (where none of your children are performing, but want to go to see their best friend speak 2 lines) which you had previously slated for a fake flu night.

   d. Call the girlfriend, set another date 6 ½ months away at a suburban chain restaurant five minutes from your house, and call the teacher to help organize the snack drill for the trip.

How did you score? If you’re the boss, you already know.

Kathy’s new book, “I Am So The Boss Of You: An 8 Step Guide To Giving Your Family “The Business” will be on bookshelves everywhere March 26, 2013. Follow Kathy on Twitter @KathyBuckworth or visit www.kathybuckworth.com