I love how some people seem to firmly believe that their only job as parents is to keep their children alive. God forbid we should discipline them, they might turn out to be productive members of society, and that would totally show mommy and daddy up so we can't have that. GRR. This is a big pet peeve of mine. Today, while I was at the bookstore letting my girls play with the train set, this mom shows up with her son and daughter (probably about 6 and 2, respectively). First, the daughter throws a fit because Bear-Bear has the train she wants. Bear-Bear didn't take her train, this kid has just decided that is the only one that will suit her. Bear in mind, there are 10+ trains on the track unused. Her mom offers her one of the aforementioned unused trains. She slaps it out of her mothers hand while whining at the top of her lungs. What does mommy do? Offers her the train again. Now, my kids can be royal brats. I have had Bear-Bear pitch fits in stores that were so bad I pretended she wasn't mine (really). So I understand that kids will be kids. However, this was not the last of it with this kid. A few minutes later I was dangling my keys for Little Man to swat at and I hear Bear-Bear's battle cry. I look over, and she is coming toward me w/4 train cars in her hands, and the other mother says "She just took one of those from her." So I assume she means that Bear-Bear pilfered her kid's train car. I start to get onto her and she says "No, my daughter took it from your daughter, but since your daughter isn't crying it's ok." I just looked at her and said "Well, let me know if any of my kids do that to one of your kids because that is never acceptable behavior in my house." I wish I had a camera. Her face was priceless. She really couldn't believe I had just gone there. Her kid continued being such a brat that we left about 5 minutes later. But I think I should get my first silhouette for that : ).
*Fun experiment you can do at home!*
Look everyone directly and steadily in the eye as you talk to them. You will notice that most people don't hold eye contact, and it will freak them out that you are. It is really fun.
So, yeah, my dog rocks. I was "interviewing", so to speak, another dog today, because I think Jasmine needs a buddy here. So this woman brought her dog over to see how the dog got along with Jasmine and my kids. Now, Jasmine is a purebred American Bulldog. She is short (her shoulders are about knee-high on me, her head hits about mid-thigh), but stocky. She weighs about 80 lbs. She is also the sweetest dog ever. Bear-Bear has stepped on her, fallen on her, tried to ride her, puller her hair, pulled her whiskers, pulled her lips, twisted her nose, pulled her ears, pulled her tail, poked her eyes.... and this dog has never growled or even flinched. She just looks at me like "Can you make it stop? Please." (Which I always do.) She is also very intelligent, yet really stoopid at the same time. If you have ever seen the movie The Emperor's New Groove (best Disney movie ever), she is Cronk. Big, brilliant, yet somehow oddly tarded. Well, this other dog walked over to sniff Little Man, she got about 18 in from him and Jasmine gave her a warning growl. She got about 12 in from Little Man and Jasmine came off her couch and tore into that little 40-ish lb dog. This dog wasn't real bright because about 2 min later she walked over to Bear-Bear to sniff her. Same thing. 18 in was a warning growl, 12 in Jasmine came off that couch and tore into that puppy again. And as soon as she got the puppy far enough away from the kids that she was comfortable with it, she would back off of the puppy. This really makes me feel much safer, knowing that she is that protective.
Now for the biggest frustration of my day / life atm. My Little Man always seems to get the short end of the stick. He does not cry alot, but it seems like every time he does, 15 un-ignorable things happen at the same time, so he has to sit and cry for a bit until I can get there. Yes, I know that occasionaly letting them cry for a minute is good because it teaches them patience and to not expect instant gratification as they get older. But it seems to happen EVERY SINGLE TIME HE CRIES!! Tonight for instance, he started to fuss while I was attempting to clean up dinner. So I abandoned my efforts and went to get him. I picked him up, sat down on the couch, he starts rooting around, and the dog wanders over and whines. Not a "I will probably need to go out soon" whine, but instead a "You better get me outside in the next 30 seconds or you and your carpet will regret it" whine. So I put Little Man down and take the dog out. I get back in about 5 min later, pick him up again, get my shirt up, and Little Bit yells "Mommy, I'm done!". This is after yet another hour-long potty session with her. (We have been dealing w/chronic constipation w/ her for 3 yrs now, but that is another gripe for another day.) So I have to put Little Man down again, and go clean Little Bit. But this is the stuff I am talking about. This happens to him all day long. At this rate he is going to grow up convinced that he is not worth as much as the other two. Or even the dog for that matter. *sigh* He is going to have to choose between a college education or therapy to undo the damage, I won't be able to afford both...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment