Monday 23 July 2012

Dirty Socks and Kid Talk

A slightly recycled post...okay, whole-sale copy-and-pasted post from my personal blog, because some things are always true:

Things you need to know about kids, cats, and human nature. (If you're a Mom, you know most of this already, but you may have forgotten, so I'll remind you, because no one likes to be reminded of these things the hard way.)

1) A five year old boy who has been sitting quietly and contentedly on his bed playing his gameboy  for the past hour will suddenly and inexplicably loose all sense of timing and hand-eye co-ordination and will develop the attention span of a gnat just moments after being told it is time to practice his cello. 2012 EDIT: exchange gameboy for DS and cello for piano, and it's pretty much the same. I am tempted to actually buy him the electric guitar he so wants, just to see if he'll actually practice when he can make that much noise without hardly trying.

2) An eight year old girl who can cuddle up with a book for hours on end will be unable to read English when confronted with her grammar homework. 2012 EDIT: By the time she's twelve, prying the book out of her hands for anything other than perhaps exchanging it for her point shoes is a futile endeavor. Just give up now and console yourself with the well-worn phrase: "There are worse things she could be doing than reading."

3) Two siblings can absolutely love the same activity, but they cannot sit down together and do that activity without finding things to disagree about. 2012 EDIT: Nope. Nothing to edit here. Hasn't changed.

4) Two siblings can disagree about everything on the planet, including the colour of the sky and whether or not gravity exists, until their parent asks them to do chores separately since they can't get along, at which point, they agree they get along just fine. 2012 Edi--nevermind.

5) No matter how much they argue and want to punch each other out, an eight year old sister will drop her best friend in a heartbeat if that friend is mean to her five year old brother. 2012 EDIT: This apparently does not apply to tweens. Girl power over boy cooties. Fine by me, as long as she's nice to her brother.

6) A five year old brother will go into the basement to fetch his sister's stuffy when she stubs her toe and can't stop crying, but he will, under no circumstances, go there by himself to empty the recycle bin or fetch a clean pair of socks. 2012 EDIT: I've been informed clean socks are overrated. Who knew.

And finally, remember, cats are people too. (Or so I've been told, by both the kids and the cats.) And if you think you are too tired to clean the litter today, and that you'll just do it tomorrow, think again. This is really one of those things you can do today. Trust me on this. 2012 EDIT: still true.

With kids and cats, you can be sure of one thing: if you hugged your kids first thing in the morning and last thing at night and let your cat sleep on your feet, everything else is just the small stuff.

8 comments:

Faith Bicknell said...

ROFL @ #4!

I've raised 9 kids, Jaime, and only 4 were truly mine, but ohhhhhhh do I so relate to this post!

Jaime Samms said...

I made these observations in 2008, Faith, and really, not much has changed.

Faith Bicknell said...

Kids are predictable, but when we get used to their predictability, they'll turn around and do something to shock the heck out of us.

Speaking of kids, my youngest just rolled out of bed...

Janie Emaus said...

So true. Thanks for sharing.

Teresa K. said...

What a great post, and how true.

It brought back memories of my sisters and I. We fought like cat's & dogs but when it came to anyone else being to mean to one of us, you had to deal with all of us.

Loved, loved, this post.

Teresa K.

Marci Baun said...

We only have one child. She doesn't have siblings, but she has a few friends that are like siblings.

Mine is a packrat, even if she no longer plays with a toy (or never did), the second I say, "Let's give it away," she decides she must play with it now. That lasts about 5 minutes before she's bored with the toy (usually Barbies) and wants to play with blocks, books, puzzles, iPad, My Little Ponies, etc. I've talked to a number of parents. Apparently, they have to secret things away in the dark of night (or more aptly, when their kids are out of the house) to get rid of things, too.

Hoarders! All of them! LOL

Mary Quast said...

As a mother of three boys, I now realize I am not alone. Yay! I've been told with every child a mother loses brain cells. I believe I have only two brain cells left and they are currently waving goodbye to each other. Hugs.

Jaime Samms said...

kids are predictable, Faith. Until they're not...

Thanks for stopping by, Janie!

My sisters and I were mean to each other, Teresa. We outgrew it, eventually, but it took a few...decades lol!

OMG, Marci, don't even get me started on the pack-rat-ness. Although, this plays back to Faith's comment, because this was one of those times my kids surprised me in cleaning out the basement, they voluntarily cut a pile of toys in half and gave away a good pile of very nice things they'd outgrown or didn't play with very much.

Oh, no, Mary! You are not alone! I deliberately stopped after one boy. When he was still a baby. I had a feeling one would be enough!!!! (My brother has four, book-ended by girls. Poor sod)