Rant: Annoying parents!!

Yeah but how often can I work the word "archiac" into my daily conversations with a 6 year old LMAO!

It is really sad though when I'm on the city bus with Mikey and I ask him to get up to give a seat to an older passenger or someone with a baby in arms or whatever and people are amazed. Like it's something so special that any of my kids should know to do this? Or that when we get off the bus Mikey says "thank you bus driver". It's such a simple thing to say thanks to someone for doing their job and making your life easier but people think it's a big deal. To me, it's just common courtesy.

Ack I can't even watch those Nanny 911 shows and the like. The day one of my kids hits me, curses at me and runs my house with that kind of demanding behaviour....is the day I hand in my Mother's Union Card LOL. I know they over-exaggerate it but I am blown away almost every day by the behaviour I see kids getting away with and their parents are either ignoring it or basically begging their little monster to be a good.

Saw an 8 year old at the zoo the other day. She was punching her mother...not slapping...punching..full closed fist swinging. Mommy was standing there mumbling "now that's not nice, you need a time out"....which of course the kid screamed NO and smacked mom again. In public! In front of two younger siblings! All this because the mother would not let this big girl cram herself into the twin stroller with the two younger kids. I about died! Mikey was all big eyed watching this and Mike looked at me and said...."like to see one of ours try to pull that" LOL

Well, just because at one point it was 'okay' to resort to violent methods also doesn't mean that people used them. But with them as a back up threat always seemed to work because it gave people a way to assert a defined dominance. Now a days you can't even use it as a back up because kids can just threaten to call protective services on you!

Sending a kid to their room now a days is hardly a punishment... Kids seem to have so many toys and fun things to play with in there now as well... It's a far cry from the nice warm bed, lamp and closet that I got! (We did have a 'rec' room where the fun stuff was though)... Mostly for me it was a, 'make your own fun' situation because my parents felt we'd be better off with a summer home than a house in the city filled with toys :) .

And I thank them for that every day. I go out in public today and just roll my eyes at the things people let their kids get away with!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by frankykeno

Saw an 8 year old at the zoo the other day. She was punching her mother...not slapping...punching..full closed fist swinging. Mommy was standing there mumbling "now that's not nice, you need a time out"....which of course the kid screamed NO and smacked mom again. In public! In front of two younger siblings! All this because the mother would not let this big girl cram herself into the twin stroller with the two younger kids. I about died! Mikey was all big eyed watching this and Mike looked at me and said...."like to see one of ours try to pull that" LOL

---

Oh gosh, one of Marc's friends' mom is just like that. We get together at least once a month to get the boys together, and I never know how to act when her son starts one of his violent tantrums. He yells horrible things at her and hit her, and I just stand there in awe.
I'm sure the fact that her husband died a few years ago has some bearing on the situation, but I know I would not let my child stay somewhere and continue playinig if he were to try something like that.

Personally whether you believe in spanking or not, it's a finite thing. You can't whallop your kid for every infraction, you can't enforce anything with a spank if you are more than an arm's length away and if you're short like me....they outgrow you fast LOL.

In the end, I think it's always going to be about love, respect and limitations. I love them enough to both give and expect respect. I love them enough to set limitations so they can learn early on that no one in this life is an island or the center of anyone's universe. We're all part of a greater whole and I'm praying I'm raising kids that will contribute to their society. Even if it's just saying "hey thanks" to the greeter at WalMart for that buggy. :)

If I don't teach respect to me, how will they respect you?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GirDance

Well, just because at one point it was 'okay' to resort to violent methods also doesn't mean that people used them. But with them as a back up threat always seemed to work because it gave people a way to assert a defined dominance. Now a days you can't even use it as a back up because kids can just threaten to call protective services on you!

---

Heh, believe me, I have a full arsenol of threats that I'm not afraid to follow through on, none of which involve violence of any kind.
Ok, maybe threats of violence with my 7 yr old son, but only in a joking way. I'll say "Oh, maybe I should pop you in the eye if you won't behave!", to which he will reply "Yeah, and then I'll use an upper block and kick your leg!". Then we usually start "pretend kung fu", and he always wins. I suck at pretend kung fu. Oh, by then we are both lauging, and he's much more likely to do whatever it is I asked of him.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SarahMB

Oh gosh, one of Marc's friends' mom is just like that. We get together at least once a month to get the boys together, and I never know how to act when her son starts one of his violent tantrums. He yells horrible things at her and hit her, and I just stand there in awe.
I'm sure the fact that her husband died a few years ago has some bearing on the situation, but I know I would not let my child stay somewhere and continue playinig if he were to try something like that.

---

That's horrible Sarah. Perhaps the mother is over-compensating for the loss of dad but in the end what is the lesson that boy is learning? That when you are upset - you hit? When a woman upsets you - you hit her to get your way? That screaming and using bad words works? Those are sad lessons that young boy is learning at his mother's knee. It must be an awful situation for you to watch.

I just always remember my Dad's... "You stop doing that or I'm going to get the paddle!!!" He never did it, but it sure stopped us in our tracks when he said it!!

His usual way of discipline though was that we'd be doing something that pissed off my mom (usually me) and he'd just call us over to help him with whatever project he was working on, or ask if we wanted to take the dog out... That worked so much better!! I've found kids with the proper amount of engagement and attention tend to be the ones who behave the best :)

Just had to share a laugh here. This thread got me thinking about how I was raised by my grandparents and how they disciplined and kept me in line (it didn't always work but bless em they did try). Here was my mom's way of dealing with me coming in after curfew (she raised me folks...she may have been my maternal grandmother but she was the mother of my heart)....

I'd sneak in, hoping like heck no one was still up. There would be this little older lady....all 4'10" of her...sitting in a chair by the window...shivering! Yep shivering! I swear thinking back she purposely put on a thin housecoat just to get that effect (sneaky woman!). She's peer up at me, this horribly worried look in her eyes, squeeze out a tear and gasp..."oh thank god you are home girl, I was so worried you were dead on the side of the road somewhere, now quick off to bed with you before your dad knows you're late again!". Then she'd toss in another shiver for good effect.

I swear I wouldn't go out for a month! I mean who can stand a tiny old scottish granny bloody well catching pneumonia because you wanted to kneck with some guy for an extra 30 minutes!

I'm working on that shiver but man I can't lay on the guilt like mamma did. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by frankykeno

I'm working on that shiver but man I can't lay on the guilt like mamma did. :)

---

LOL. And here I thought Jewish and Italian mothers cornered the market on guilt trips. :P

Well apparently it's a little known secret that scots grannies can lay it on REALLY thick!

I mean really though...could you possibly make this lovely, kind little old lady sit there worried over your disobedient self, a tear in her eye....geesh...I still feel guilty! LOL

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...thBirthday.jpg

(and I miss her every day)