Tag: parenting

gratitude, happiness, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting, self-discovery

Kick in the Pants

WFAM

At the gym this morning as I was waiting for a class to start, I watched a fellow gym goer chase down her very active toddler son.  He darted into a room he didn’t belong and she had no choice but to follow.

She was exasperated and embarrassed.

Two ‘E’ words I have come to know and love over the course of raising my boys.

I said to her, “He reminds me so much of my boys.  I know exactly how you feel.”

She smiled blandly at me, squared her shoulders and finally overtook her little one by sheer force.

Looked like a typical Thursday morning to me.

Another member said, “So your boys were like that at that age?”

“Yes.  In fact my older one was about 100 times more active than that.  This kid is more my younger one’s speed.”

“Isn’t it great?,” she asked.

I looked at her and paused.  She was older, closer to a grandmother’s age than my own so she clearly had some experience to back up this question.

My pause made her continue.  “Wouldn’t you rather have kids full of life and personality than a kid who is dull and boring?”

And for the first time in my life it dawned on me that the answer to this question is a resounding ‘YES!

So remember that when you are about to lose it.

Or more likely, when you are beating yourself up over some behavioral misdeed of your perfectly normal, perfectly acceptable offspring.

Spirited kids are the ones who kick life in the pants.

I’ll take two please and hold the boring!

children, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Park Politics

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Wise for their size.

Having spent spring break doing local things with my boys, we visited our share of parks. There was the park at the library, the park in our subdivision and the play area at the zoo.

My approach to the park experience, especially since the boys have mastered them in a physical sense, is to step back and let the social politics of parkdom unfold without intervening.

This is so much easier said than done.

Since the boys are older, they handle themselves well for the most part. There is less threat of spontaneous smack-downs so I can relax a little.

The part that I have to watch myself is if any of the other kids attempt to be mean to my boys. I find that sometimes even the quiet girls holed up in the cubby at the top of the slide use words that cut like daggers.

Here’s what one such little girl said to T.Puzzle when he tried to use the slide. “You can’t come up here. You can never be here while we are here. You have to go away forever!”

I heard some defensive words start to creep up my throat and as they almost toppled from my mouth, I bit my tongue and took a step back. As much as I was longing to intervene, I wanted T.Puzzle to handle it. j

He did. He sort stepped over the girl and her unfortunate minions, and slid away. T.Puzzle and Full Speed continued to ignore the girls and their ridiculous demands.

I learned a lot watching them.

The best way to handle mean people is to ignore them and live your life.

Spend time with the people who support you and slide away as fast as you can from the ones who don’t.

children, gratitude, happiness, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Cheeseburgers and Miracles

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A while back I mentioned how Mad Dog and I were amazed at the substantial overall improvement of the boys’ behavior. This improvement is most notable when on public outings or surrounded by a large group.

We attended a neighborhood cookout and our friend and host commented that she noticed a dramatic difference in them as well.

For example, neither had to sit in time-out for anything.

Not one time.

I couldn’t believe it.

Neither tried to tackle, maim, bite or wreak generalized havoc on each other or the rest of the kids in attendance.

Mad Dog and I actually got to sit back, relax and engage in adult conversation.

All over cheeseburgers, good company and a lovely March evening.

I do believe in miracles.

A spring break outing to the zoo where the boys continued their miraculous good behavior. They had cheeseburgers for lunch, too. Maybe the magic is hidden in the ground beef?
children, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting, tantrums

The Fast and the Furious

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I have written many times about how I can’t relate to Full Speed’s ultra-competitive nature. With time and experience I’ve learned that even if I don’t understand it, I have to accept it.

Where I have yet to journey the path of acceptance in this realm, is when I’m attempting to have a leisurely family bike ride.

I'd like to say bike rides were simple when the boys were little and fit compactly into one handy bike trailer. But alas, within five minutes of launch Full Speed would be pounding on T.Puzzle who would resort to biting as his go-to defense. Good times.

We recently purchased a tandem trail-a-bike for T.Puzzle. T.Puzzle is content to ride in tandem with ol’ slow poke Mom. He’s just thankful to be out of the tiny baby bike seat. So is my backside. No more being kneed on a repetitive basis by T.Puzzle’s overgrown four year old limbs.

The ride to pizza was fine. The ride to the park even better. As long as Full Speed is riding tandem and in FRONT with Mad Dog, things in life are great.

Why not mix it up? Let’s give lil’ T.Puzzle his chance to shine and hop on with Dad on the ride home from the park.

This is when near disaster struck. Full Speed was so determined to beat T.Puzzle, he pedaled at a furious rate. Even if I stopped pedaling completely, Full Speed’s relentless legs propelled us to the lead. I didn’t mind at first. In fact I could already see the humor of the situation glaring back at me.

I lost my humor quickly when at a busy intersection Full Speed kept pedaling no matter how many times I yelled ‘STOP!’

Things turned even more unfunny as we maneuvered down our main subdivision street trying to avoid oncoming traffic and remain in a single file formation. As Mad Dog and T.Puzzle eased in front of us as a truck whooshed by, Full Speed let out a tantrumific cry. He was outraged and boy, did he let me know it.

That’s it. I was done. I pulled us over to the sidewalk, hopped off the bike and refused to ride in the insanity any longer.

Full Speed’s response?

He leapt off the bike and attempted to beat his Dad and his brother by foot.

And wouldn’t you know it? That little man almost beat them.

He was fast AND furious.

children, gratitude, happiness, life in pictures, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Transformative

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T.Puzzle and I on our date at Sonic.
Okay. So there are a lot of trials and tribulations to raising young children. The energy requirements alone are enough to make you faint. I still am lobbying the government for Sundays off from motherhood. Oh, and I would love some monetary compensation to call my own.

Besides these obvious pitfalls, there is a fantasic upside.

My boys are still at the age where spending time with me is almost as awesome as the impending summer release of Transformers 3.

Full Speed beams during our regular Thursday lunch on St. Patrick's Day.

I’ll take the good with the bad and spend as much time with these guys as I can while they still let me.

All I have to be is myself with them.

No transformation required.

Yet.