I've been more or less glued to the Olympics for almost a week now, with brief pauses to throw food at the kids and answer the telephone once or twice. One thing that has fascinated me this year is the new way of scoring the gymnastics. "No such thing as a perfect 10 anymore," the commentators keep saying. Once I figured out what DID constitute a great score, it got to be more fun to watch.

Here was the thing that really got to me. One of the Chinese gymnasts made a major blunder, and he still ended up getting a higher score than some guys who seemed to have been almost perfect. And that, of course, was because he had a higher "start value." His routine was a lot more difficult, so he got more points up front for that, which made up for the points deducted for his missteps. Of course, since I'm not a gymnast, I don't really know what moves are the hardest, so it's a good thing I'm not judging because I'd probably vote for the routine that seemed flawless, when maybe that competitor wasn't nearly as skilled in the end.

What I wish is that I could remember to be astute enough to apply the same kind of scoring in my own parenting. Some kids are just plain harder to parent than others. And all kids are harder at certain stages of their lives than they are at other times. Shouldn't I be factoring in the degree of difficulty when I'm evaluating my own success? In the end, maybe I'm more skilled than I'm giving myself credit for.

And I"ll bet you are too.