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I love it when I get the dirty look from the 20-something year old who has no kids..."hehehehe...just wait till you have kids," I think to myself, "and you'll soon realize just how easy it is to "control" them..."
I remember saying I am going to do things so differently than my mother.
Today I am proud to say I am my mother....
It's funny how a 10 year old can find all of her mother's faults. My sister and I used to sit and pout and take turns taking our mother's inventory, telling each other what things we were going to be doing differently when WE have kids.
We were NEVER going to be mean to our kids (Like make them do chores or eat peas.)
We were going to let them do what they wanted.
We were let them stay up at night.
We had an entire list.
Our kids do chores.
NONE of them did what they pleased EVER.
My youngest is 16 and I can't wait for 10pm each night.
Everything on our list we have done in spades.
So much for being smarter than and better mothers than we had.
I remember I used to look at all the warning in plastic bags that say "this is not a toy..." and think who is the dumb a** that will confuse a bag with a toy. Then one day my dd reached over and grabbed a bag and spent a few minutes entertained. I was not about to take it away.
Other than that I wasn't around children much until I had my own.
On the top of my list: I am not going to do what my caretakers did to me.
I say caretakers not to seem rude but that I had more than one person taking care of me. I am proud to say I am NOT like my caretakers. However, I am like my mother in very important ways that have nothing to do with discipline.
Number two: I was not going to let my child get away with the things my sibling did.
Looking back, I am grateful for that childhood because otherwise, who knows who I would be trying to copy right now.
I find myself saying this phrase every now and then and I have to laugh.
Does anyone else remember unrealistic ideals we had for our future children and how we tried to impose them onto others with children? I always swore to myself I would NEVER allow MY child to behave "that" way, or if MY child acted that way I would do "this or that", or I would NEVER let my child out looking like "that"....
You get the picture! What were some of the parenting ideas and strategies you had BEFORE you had children that have now changed?
I can remember being disgusted when I would see a mother wipe her child's face with her hand that was wet from saliva, but yet I found myself doing it today!
OMG! This is too true!
We are "perfect mothers" before we have kids.
Then we have our own and we are "the good", "the bad", or "the ugly".
Then we become Grandmas and we are "perfect" again
I was never, ever going to lie to my kids, or tell them "maybe tomorrow" if I had no intention of doing X/ giving them X tomorrow. That didn't last long... though we are still debating the Santa Clause thing, the older two will be almost 3 this Christmas, so it becomes relevant.
No/ very little TV- now they have a TV in their room, with video recorder. I let them watch while I mop the floors/ do stuff I don't want them underfoot for. I do feel a bit guilty as I do think they watch too much, but it is so useful!
No sweets- mostly true, though they do get a packet of vitamin fruit gummies as a reward for good behaviour, and a cookie after dinner.
I love it when I get the dirty look from the 20-something year old who has no kids..."hehehehe...just wait till you have kids," I think to myself, "and you'll soon realize just how easy it is to "control" them..."
I feel the same every time a childfree person posts here on the Parenting board with opinions like "how hard is it for you people control your kids in my restaurant where I want to eat?", "just slap him on the face, on the butt, not a rocket science" etc.
I love it when I get the dirty look from the 20-something year old who has no kids..."hehehehe...just wait till you have kids," I think to myself, "and you'll soon realize just how easy it is to "control" them..."
I was on the patio of a fast food restaurant the other day. It was the kind of place where you can push a button and place your order from outside. It was very loud as traffic was flowing on either side of the patio. My dd was running around with her friend and both were squealing and laughing loudly. A young pregnant woman glared at me and said in a very sassy tone, "can't you keep those kids quiet? I'm trying to order!". I told the kids to settle down but I was trying hard not to laugh. First of all we were on the patio of a fast food restaurant of all places, not a nice restaurant and not even inside. It was loud regardless of what the kids were doing because of the traffic. Second, this woman will have her own in a matter of months and she will see.
I love it when I get the dirty look from the 20-something year old who has no kids..."hehehehe...just wait till you have kids," I think to myself, "and you'll soon realize just how easy it is to "control" them..."
My sister used to be SO impatient with other people's children. She was the second-oldest of us 7, and we dreaded it when my parents went out and she was our babysitter instead of my nicer oldest sister.
Then when she was older and became a store manager, she would constantly complain about customers who didn't "control" their children.
Then she got pregnant unintentionally and had her own daughter. My niece was completely uncontrollable. She was mean, she was a thief, she dropped out of high school and had her first kid at 19. Now she's got five kids. They've all been living in a van at a campground all summer (with the father of the last four) and just now found a permanent place to live.
I secretly look at my sister sometimes and think, "why couldn't YOU control your kid?"
I said the SAME thing! I also swore my son would wear cloth diapers if it killed me...well, that didn't work out either!
It lasted for me about a week...... then I had to wash all those nasty stinky diapers in the pail. EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW
nevermind!!!!!
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