Monday 2 January 2012

Conversations

Son: "I can't put my clean laundry away. There's no more room in my dresser."
Me: "Toss all the jeans with the holes in the knees, and the rest will fit."
Son: "They aren't holes. It's a *style*
Me: *face palm* Leaves*
Some things just are not worth arguing with an eight yr old over. Trust me on this. In fact, so much of what goes on in a kid's head is beyond me, despite the fact I once was one.

For instance, just this morning, my daughter sat a the table and told me....Told Me....to get her a bowl of cereal. O.o Really. Where does she get that? And of course immediately on the heels of asking myself that, I realize the answer. Me. Damn. I did that to her. Do you know how long it's going to take to train that out of her now? And worse, now I can't use her as my fetch and carrier, either, because that's a double standard she will never, ever allow to be forced on her. Kid's too smart for my own good.....

Now, of course, I didn't get cereal for her. Her (adult) cousin made her grilled cheese less than ten minutes later. Sigh. There is no winning, really.

10 comments:

Marci Baun said...

At 7, Lily tries the same thing, but I won't do it until she asks politely, and it's on my time. If she quibbles, I tell her to do it. Matter of fact, I often make her do it.

That being said, I often ask her to bring me something and she will.

I don't understand kids either. If she could, mine would go barefoot or wear flip flops year round. Of course, today we can. It's 80 or so here and we are at the beach. (g)

Jaime Samms said...

Oh, Marci! My son wears socks in the yard and bare feet in the house. Shoes only if he wants to ride his bike, and even then, I've caught him in the park across the feet on his bike in his socks.....at least the snow in the winter forces his hand. Or, feet, as the case may be.

Bikecopblog said...

Years ago - told my two year old to clean up a mess, or I'd send her to her room. HER: Bye. ME: Where the.... HER: The options were, clean up or go to my room. ME: Uh oh.

No wonder she's in law school now.

Jaime Samms said...

Oh dear, Jim. You were screwed right early on, were't you? Lol! They make for funny stories now, but at the time, you see the future flash before your eyes and it never looks promising when you have a kid who knows how to play you and does it so skillfully you're snowed before you begin.

The up side is they do make for competent, independent and well adjusted adults, if you can manage to keep up during those formative years.

Unknown said...

I can survive my child's childhood.
I can survive my child's childhood.
I can survive my child's childhood.
I can survive my child's childhood.

Maybe not with any sanity left ... but I can survive.

I did ... but like i said, maybe not with any sanity.

Jaime Samms said...

The only consolation I have there, Robyn, is that might not have had a full deck of cards to begin with. Dog earn ages more hopefully won't make a lot of difference....right?

Patricia said...

My 17-year-old son told me the other day that he couldn't eat because there were no clean dishes. The dishwasher was full of clean dishes, I told him. He huffed and puffed that he had to get a plate out of the dishwasher. Oh My God!

Faith Bicknell said...

My youngest is 7. He argues with me over how words are used, what I've said or how I've pronounced it, and whether or not he needs a jacket when it's 65 degrees outside--as in it's warm, no need for it, and he tells me uner 70 is cold.

Jaime Samms said...

Patricia, everyone knows getting a plate out of the washer is, like, thousand times harder than pulling one from the cupboard.....

Faith he's seven. He knows everything. Did you miss that memo? And he isn't even your first, so really, you have no excuse....

If only I could live my life with that amount of self assurance that everything it thought and said was RIGHT. *sigh*

UK said...

Unless you are one of the few who is naturally skilled at resolving situations, big and small, with desirable effects, while keeping your relationships strong, this is a must-read. It is practical and helpful. This is NOT simply for big confrontations or problems, but addresses the tiniest, yet significant, issues such as asking someone to do the dishes, or unfairly being requested to perform a task, etc.