My kids are driving me bonkers lately… like really pushing their limits. And I’m realizing that no matter how loudly I yell, it doesn’t make them fall in line so I might as well just stop with the yelling (or at least tone it down because we all know the neighbors already get an earful – we have boys, therefore we are loud).
I texted Sandy tonight before a Google Plus meeting we were set to have and said the following: “If I’m not on the chat it’s quite possibly because I’ve murdered my kids and I’m on the run.”
Please note: I would NEVER murder my children, it was a JOKE, please do not call child protective services on me. I blog, I text, I joke – this is how I vent.
But clearly, something needs to change with both them and me. Two years into this single-parenting on the weeknights thing and I think we’re all a little sick of it. They are sick of getting ganged up on by one tired, sometimes at-her-wits-end parent and I’m very sick of dealing with the bedtime rigamarole and toy clean up. Last night Liam was upset with me during our clean up time because he had been put in timeout and lost the Wii for being mean to his brother and he told me that he wanted to not like me so much that I would die (clearly he was trying to say the most hurtful thing he could think of because I had taken away Wii privileges). I told him that what he said was hurtful but that we would talk about it when he was less upset. Later he tearfully apologized when I talked to him about it and I explained how terrible it was to say that he wished someone was dead and asked if he would be sad if I was gone forever (i.e., dead from his not liking me so much). At five-and-a-half my son has learned that words can be powerful and very hurtful tools and at nearly 34 I’m forgetting that words need only be whispered to be heard. We both need to learn a lesson (or five) in how to use our words.
My kids act crazy mostly because they are kids, and boy kids at that, but also because I react passionately to what they are doing wrong and despite the mis-intent, they are trying to get my attention and push my buttons. A friend told me she had been trying to praise her kids wildly for the inane things they were doing right, to focus on the positive, even if it was something as simple as walking down the hallway to their room. And she said it was crazy how wonderfully they were behaving and reacting to that feedback, despite how silly she felt at dishing it out. So here and now, I’m telling you that I’m going to try this wholeheartedly – going to commit to being that saccharine-voiced mom who praises her kids for every little thing and see how that works for me. [Can anyone get my kids to commit to staying in their room quietly at bedtime? And also not strangling, tackling and hitting each other? Then we’d have a good thing going.]
Because I love my kids more than anything in the world but I’d really like to like them all the time, too. And I’m sure they feel the same way about me.
ememby 