This is the first segment of my...not journal, but little tidbits that I learn along the way. I am 29 years old. I have done and seen a lot so far. I'm sure I have a lot more to see and learn. This particular segment is more about my children, what I have experienced as a parent, and the funny things my kids do. I don't think that it is crazy to say that most of you who have children have experienced the same things and can relate.
My daughter will be 5 in August of this year. She is a firecracker. My mother and sisters call her "Hurricane Mara". She has so much energy and she notices everything. I was thinking about making her Captain Obvious for Halloween. She doesn't just point things out. She will continue to say it over and over unless I respond. A lot of times, I'm ashamed to say, I respond with "Yes, I know" and I don't always sound nice when saying it.
That doesn't stop her though. She always has something funny to say. Now that she is getting older she has begun to exhibit her own little personality. This is so much fun to see. Her likes and dislikes are not my likes and dislikes anymore. I don't know about you, but when my kids were born I'd watch or listen to whatever I wanted. Then when she got a little bit older and started copying things, that's when I let her choose what we watched or listened to. She is a typical little girl. She likes pink, ponys, dolls, all that sparkly girl crap I was never into. I tell her sometimes, "Ewww, you like that?" and she will respond with a yes. I'm happy she doesn't let my distaste for something affect her liking it. I'm sure when she becomes a teenager that will change. Ha.
Mara is exactly like me. She is loud, energetic, and doesn't ever stop talking. She loves to run, jump, cartwheel, you name it. I put her in tumbling and dance class so we she has an outlet for all of her wiggles, but sometimes that is not enough. I don't know how many times I have told her to calm down. She has a younger brother, Maddox, who is equally energetic. I don't so much mind because she has someone to play with. They play very well together. Their favorite thing to do is take big cars and trucks and push them down the hall way. My son will yell, "set, SET, GOOOOO". Then they both race down the hallway. I think it just the cutest thing. Since my children have so much energy, we don't necessarily listen to kid appropriate music in the car. A lot of times we listen to funky beats or something they can car dance to. Earth wind and fire seems to make my children react rather positively. We listen to latin music too. They enjoy that. The other day, I was taking Mara to preschool and a latin song was playing. A minute or so into the song, Mara says, "Mom, this song makes my butt dance weird." Now of course, I burst out laughing. What the hell did she just say?? Whatever it was, it was very funny and we all laughed very hard. She says things like that all the time.
Parenting is hard. Or so they say. I don't have a lot of trouble with it. Usually, I just discuss with my husband what to do about something and we compromise. The problem I always seem to have is with other people's kids. My kids, as I said before are wild and rambunctious. They like to wrestle and play. It is only natural for children that young to assume that every other child will be the same. This is not, in my experience, the case. Other parents have yelled at my kids before at the park because my kids pounced on them. Then I have to sit and explain to these yahoos that my kids wrestle at home with each other. Their response is almost always that not all kids are raised to just thunder dome whenever they want. This is the part that always makes me mad. To me, this means that the other parent is not letting their kids be kids! When I was a kid, every kid I knew wrestled, ran around, and had fun. Not just that, but OUTSIDE! To be fair, I'm sure that those introvert parents who don't let their kids do that feel a certain way about me. I mean if they feel wrestling is not necessarily a good thing, they will most likely assume I just let my kids run wild, when that is not the case.
I was a 90's kid. If you are a 90's kids too, you completely understand where I'm coming from. We played outside. We got dirty. We climbed trees. We rode our bikes. We had water balloon fights in the summer. We also were the last generation between no technology and a crap ton of technology. Remember dial up internet? eeeeeeerrrrr rrrrreeeeeuuuuurrrreeeeuurrrrrr kkkkkkkkkkk....(That's how you spell that sound, by the way). Texting, instant messaging, email, high speed internet, video chat, smart phones....all of those things that were new to us at a young age. I think that is one of the main reasons children now a days are the way they are. I can't say that my generation isn't to blame for that. We became complacent. We became comfortable with the idea that we didn't even have to leave the house to buy something online. Hell, people make a living online now a days. What does that have to do with my kids? Well, it has given me the opportunity to choose between what I had and what they can have. What I had was you play outside....You didn't sit inside and watch TV. You didn't play video games. You made up games OUTSIDE! You wrestled with your siblings, you ran around, you rode your bike.....ROLLER BLADES! How many of you miss those bad boys?! As I said before. I am not surprised that kids get sick so easily now a days because their parents choose to put an pad in front of them instead of taking them outside to play. Now I am not saying that it is wrong to give kids electronics. I do however, feel very strongly that those things should be allowed in moderation. That's just my experience. If you let a kid sit there for hours, of course they don't wanna go outside, they have this cool video game and they need to beat all the levels.
In my experience, it is never good to let my children have electronics for more than a few hours. What happens when you take it away? In my case, my kids go nuts!! That's when they start running around and going crazy! I do not let them throw fits!! If they throw fits, they no longer have the privilege to have said electronics. I will not let them think that they can be rewarded for that by my giving them something they want just to turn off the fit. It works in the store too. I have seen parents not so...strict. I wouldn't say I'm strict but I definitely have stronger rules than some. I don't make my kids say sir or maam to me, but to strangers it is only polite, right? They say please and thank you and you're welcome. I have hammered that into their little brains because it was hammered into mine.
In my experience, while having the kids out and about, I notice a huge difference in them vs other children. It is kind of sad. Now I would never tell another parent that they suck, unless they do in fact suck! But you bet your butt I'm thinking it. Is it wrong of me to think bad things about other parents? I suppose it would have to depend on the situation and if I know the other parent or not. I do try very hard not to judge other parents, I am not perfect. Therefore, I do not have a right to claim that I am, or that my parenting methods are top notch A grade skills. They are not, sometimes I struggle. I try to think about what the situation behind the random fit that kid in the store is throwing before I have any kind of negative thought. I do not know what happened before the fit, I do not know why the parent is reacting the way they do. It is hard sometimes, but for me personally that is the best way to go about it.
My kids are great. I try very hard to make them polite, respectful and kind kids so that they can grow up to be polite respectful kind adults. Makes sense.
Anyways, that's all for this rant. I'm always open to advice and feedback.
Ta Ta for now
-Mel
