Saturday, February 18, 2012

eewee

It happened again. I made a supper that my kids have always loved and demanded seconds of only to be greeted with "I don't like this"

Really? REALLY? Seriously are you for real kid? Last time I made chicken soup you went back for thirds but suddenly, before your scrawny nine year old but even lands in the chair for supper, you don't like it! 

 Somehow I managed not to reach across the table and strangle him but I think it took all the will power I possessed.

I don't believe in forcing kids to eat food they don't like. When I make a meal I know my kids dislike I will always prepare an alternative for them even if it means grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup for supper. I know my 9 year old hates green peppers for example, that is why I cook with red pepper. He doesn't like rice either so I never put more than a small spoonful on his plate for him to try if he wants to. Lately though he has even been turning up his nose at what was previously his favorites.

My first thought was to tell him to eat or go hungry but if I do that I know in four hours I will be dealing with his migraine. Instead we sat and bickered at the table for almost an hour until he ate his damn soup.

Maybe tonight I will just buy pizza, if he claims not to like that I will probably never blog again because I will be locked in a mental institution.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Guns never solve parenting problems


So your daughter pissed you off and you want to teach her a lesson, good for you. You just taught her to shoot and that "might makes right"

How on earth did shooting a laptop and publicly humiliating her teach her that it is wrong to talk shit about you online? How does your behavior model what you want from her?

OK so lets for a moment ignore the fact that this dad is a self riotous idiot ( I will come back to him later) and focus on what the girl did. Her behavior was hurtful, it broke house rules, and it needs to be addressed.  Since she seems unable to keep her online conduct within the parameters her parents set taking away her laptop and thus limiting her online access is reasonable. And this is where Gun happy dad and I part ways.

The goal of parenting should always be to teach. In this case I would assume you want to teach them to be grateful for how good they actually have it and to be considerate of how their words and actions can hurt others.

 Talking to her about WHY what she did was hurtful is important. She is old enough that there is no reason not to put the onus for mending fences on her. If she is unable to see why what she did was wrong and think of a way to fix it then perhaps it is time to get rid of the computer all together. If it comes to that though

GUNS ARE STILL NOT THE ANSWER

In fact unless someone is about to kill you ar there is a deer in front of you that will feed your family for the winter guns are never the answer. Why not have some good come out of her punishment. Have her choose a kid that she knows will never be able to afford their own computer  and give it to them as they will appreciate it more. Or if you can't trust her not to mock that child at school for receiving her castoffs then donate it to an underfunded school.

Back to Dad. In this situation I blame the dad completely. It is unreasonable to assume a man so juvenile as to shoot an inanimate object that becomes the focus of his rage is also incapable of cleaning up after himself? He acts like an adolescent and can hardly be a role model for proper behavior. Heck if I lived with an asshole like that I would probably get pregnant in high school just to escape. I hope his daughter doesn't become a statistic and marry someone like him.