...will emerge with fangs gnashing and claws flashing and will MAIM you if you:
- hit/bite/shove my child. I don't care if you are also a child and haven't had your nap. That kind of understanding is reserved for my own children.
- ignore my child when he/she is attempting to ask you a question/show you a drawing/hand you a book to read to him/her.
- ignore my child or get up and leave when he tentatively approaches to play on the slide with you and your kid-gang at the park.
- harshly correct my child of a behavior you deem inappropriate - especially when I am right there (obviously, if my child hits your child you have every right to intervene. And if you are babysitting my child and she is misbehaving, I would hope that you would correct her. But never harshly).
- back up without looking in the grocery parking lot.
- Talk baby-talk to my child. I'm not talking about a raised inflection and excited facial expressions - that's natural. And actually helpful for development. I'm talking about the demeaning nasal goo with the forced speech impediments. "Who's a widdle fewwa" indeed!
- give my child candy without asking. Unless you're grandma. Because there are very real consequences for me as a parent when my kid gets hyped up on sugar - especially at an event with lots of people - and I'm often moving with extremely delicate balance through my kids' schedules every day. Don't tip my scales. Unless you're grandma (who somehow manages to spoil the kids without turning them into hellions. It's a grandma thing, I think).
- teach my child a potty-mouth word and make him think it's funny. We don't speak that way in my house.
- carelessly expose my child to a scary movie/picture/book, igniting his overactive imagination and giving him terrifying nightmares. I go out of my way to protect my sensitive child from pointless horror.
What gets your bear a-growlin'?
(Welcome to Mother's Week, in honor of Mother's Day this weekend. Tomorrow - Stepper's Mother's Day Gift Giving Guide. What do you give the one who gave you life?)
3 comments:
All of the above. Plus when someone that I (and most of society) think is a horrible parent tries to give me parenting advice. I go from 1 to 50 in micro seconds.
All of the above, and whenever someone is trying to discipline my child and steps in between me and my child to stop me from intervening. Watch Out. I had this happen at church a few years ago with my son and his Primary teacher. She didn't want me to "save him" from her. I was pregnant at the time, and that just amplified the Mama Bear response. It took me a good hour to breathe calmly. :)
PS-- recently found your blog, and I really enjoy it. My first 2 boys are 13 mos. apart, our 3rd boy came 3 1/2yrs after the 2nd one, all while my husband attended Chiropractic School 1500 miles from our families. :) I can relate to your craziness. :)
Okay, I would definitely be "maimed". Keep me away from your tiny ones or "dey wiwl hewe my bebe tok, yes dey wiwl!" Wish I was kidding, but I'm a natural. It just comes out before I can stop it.
On a more serious note, when Chloe is pushed or hit by another kid, it doesn't bother me like that. I mean, it would if the kid was older and knew better, and could definitely hurt her, but being so young I just know that sometimes kids do whatever comes into their head without understanding "right" and "wrong." I'm assuming that you are talking about this in a slightly different context, but I've surprised myself with the fact that I'm a pretty laid back mom. Isn't that weird for a first-timer? Kinda makes me scared of what I'll be like when I have my last. lol! Kids are kids and sometimes they aren't nice to each other. If she's around a kid that isn't being nice, I'll just go over and play with her myself or get her out of the line of fire. No big.
She's only 2, so I know I have time to find myself in "those situations" where mama-bear starts scratching inside of me, but I've been chill from the beginning. If an adult ignores my kid, or gets irritated with her over silly things, I just figure they aren't big on kids, which I get, and therefore I don't spend as much time with them. Not much gets to me. Maybe I'm just really lucky to have awesome people around me, after all, I've never felt like she's been in the way of any real harm (although that's subjective).
Gonna be honest though, makes me a little nervous to hang out with you now, hahahahaha! Im still in the mommy-stage where "go with the flow"
"relax," and "smile and distract" are my main mottos.
Post a Comment