Parenting 101

First...I haven't heard word yet about it actually being born, but my sister, Sue, is in the hospital having her baby! I'll let you know once I've heard more.


Okay, so it's come to my attention that some of you believe my children are over scheduled. I would argue that it's me that's over scheduled, whatever. Okay...let's plot this out, shall we?

Jacob: In addition to school, Jacob also attends Tae Kwon Do for one hour twice a week and Cub Scouts 2-3 times a month. He also attends Sunday School weekly.

Daniel: School, Tae Kwon Do twice a week and Cub Scouts 2-3 times per month as well as Sunday School.

Hannah: Preschool 3 times a week, Sunday School every other Sunday, Gymnastics for 50 minutes once a week and Moppets (MOPS for kids) 2 times a month.

Me: Taxi to and from preschool 3 times a week, school 5 times a week, TKD twice a week, Cub Scouts 4-5 times per month (one meeting is a pack meeting that both boys attend together), gymnastics once a week, MOPS twice a month. I also have the occasional PTO meeting and/or room mother meeting.

For the kids, I don't think that's a lot. For me, it's almost criminal. LOL! Seriously, though, the activities the kids are in are the ones they've expressed interest in. There have been school clubs that have come up that we've thought would be fun for them but they didn't want to do, so we haven't (like chess club). So, DAD, I know you have a hatred for all organized sports and whatnot, but that's just how it is these days. Unfortunately, I can't trust that the kids can ride their bikes to den meetings without getting snatched by some whack-job. And there are no pick-up games of baseball in the neighborhood. It is incredibly sad, but true. Okay...I'm done defending my parenting! LOL

Speaking of defending parenting skills, there was a lady at the dentist yesterday who got into an argument with a hygienist about her daughter. What is it with crazy people at the dentist? Anyway, the hygienist comes out with the lady's daughter and says that everything looks good but her daughter (she's probably 5 or 6) needs to stop using a binkie/sucking her thumb. The lady starts screaming that her daughter DOES NOT suck her thumb. The daughter chimes in, with a big proud smile on her face, "but I do take a paci!" The mother looks all flushed and yells, "YOU DO NOT!" The back and forth of "yes I do," "no you don't" begins until the mother finally yells, "WHATEVER!" The hygienist says, "well, it needs to stop because she's beginning to do some serious damage to her mouth." The mother says, "my daughter doesn't suck her thumb so there's nothing to stop." Clearly annoyed, the hygienist walks away and tells the mother not to forget to schedule her next appointment. I just kind of chuckled at the fact that this mother felt it necessary to defend herself so hard. I'm quite sure that had this mother just said that, yes, her daughter still used a bink but she'd work on getting rid of it, I wouldn't be writing about it here in my blog. Heck, I'll admit that I sucked my thumb until high school and that I slept with my blankie until Jacob was born...I think I turned out okay. (That's embarrassing...LOL!) I just find it funny that we feel the need to prove to others that we're good parents in the eyes of strangers.

Can You Say Overprotective?

I took Daniel to the dentist this morning to have his cavities filled. Hannah was having a great time playing with the Duplos in the little play area they have. It's a nice sized area that has a little bitty opening for an entrance. She'd come out every now and then to show me the car that she was making for me. I had just finished my 4th magazine when a lady and her 7 year old daughter (I know because I heard her tell the receptionist) walked in. (I'm so happy I had pen and paper available to write all of this down! LOL!)

The mother was handed a clipboard to fill out paperwork for her daughter. The daughter was looking at the fish in the tank (they have a cool tank that has a lot of the same types of fish as in Finding Nemo) and was causing no problems to anyone. This mother was following her kid around the tank with the clipboard, trying to fill out the paperwork. She followed this kid everywhere. The girl went into the little play area and the mom followed, with the clipboard. She kept telling the girl to, "stay with mommy." But she wanted to play with the toys and the other kids. Seriously, where's the kid going to go, anyway? One of the hygenists came out to do a quick look at her teeth before actually doing the cleaning and the mother insisted on going (they had asked her to stay behind). I really thought that this was the end of the story, but they came back out a minute later, the mother still trying to fill out the paperwork.

Right after they came back out, the mother said something about not being able to get anything done. Umm, well, if you'd sit down and let your kid play, you'd get it done just fine.

So, the following begins again. The other kids were looking at this mother like she was nuts and no one wanted to play with the little girl because the mom kept interferring. At some point, the mom finished the paperwork and while she was handing it to the receptionist, the little girl went into the play area. The mom freaked out! When she saw that she was in the play area, she looked at the girl, picked her up and said, "you were lost! You can't just wander off like that! I was scared!" WTF? She had walked 7 feet away.

Anyway, the mom proceeds to sit down at the entrance of the play area and would comment and correct everything the girl was doing. Since no one would play with her, she got bored pretty quickly. She wanders out of the playroom and over to a thing they have set up for toddlers. She starts playing with some of the beads (the mother's right on top of her again) and just when she looks like she's starting to have a little fun, the mother tells her, "Okay, it's someone else's turn." Number one, there were no other kids around and two, it was big enough for 4 kids to play with.

She goes back into the play area (her mom sits down at the entrance again) and the girl starts to play with the wooden trains they have. At one point, she pushes a train down the track and it flies off the table. No big deal, right? This mother actually freaked out. "It's okay! It's okay! We'll fix it! We can put it back!" She yelled so loudly that the other kids jumped. You could tell the girl was so annoyed with her mom, she kept rolling her eyes and sighing. I've never quite seen anything like it.

On another note, they said that Daniel did a great job at the dentist. They also told me that Daniel will go really far in life because he's so persistent, smart and funny. All are completely true. I do have to laugh because he got so tired of waiting for the dentist that he walked out to the lobby because he was bored. The dentist saw him pretty quickly after that! LOL!