The other day while in the waiting room of my doctor's office, I was pretending to be involved with reading one of those lame magazines they have on the table. But I was really eavesdropping on the family across from me. (People-watching is probably one of my most favorite things to do.) The mom was with her little 2 year old boy for quite a while before the husband showed up. The little boy had been running up and down this hallway and playing around, having a good time. It's hard for 2 year olds to wait for doctors, you know. The mom was fine with it, and would watch him and occasionally call him back over by her to settle down a bit. No big deal. Then the dad showed up and within a couple minutes, the boy was off his lap, running up and down the hall again. The dad told him to come back and sit down. He didn't immediately obey him, probably because he had been doing it for a long time before dad showed up. So the dad declared a time-out and held him firmly on his lap. The mom was kindly trying to explain how she had been letting him do that and didn't think it was a big deal. The dad says, "well he should have at least listened to me". I wanted to laugh right out loud, but I was pretending not to notice anything. I just thought it was so ironic how sometimes that's exactly what happens in our family. I guess moms can't really demand perfection from their kids because first of all, it's unrealistic. Second of all, they would all probably spend the entire day in time-out. Nor do we have the energy and time to be constantly disciplining them. I always feel like dads should have an ample amount of patience for the kids when they come home, and sort of help relieve the mom. But it rarely turns out that way. I'm not putting Kenny down by any means, he is a fabulous father. I just have to laugh when dads think little kids should be perfectly obedient, submissive, and reverent at all times. Or maybe I'm wrong, and should expect perfection from kids. Let it be said that I do indeed put my kids in time-out, and they do have bad consequences for bad actions. I guess I just pick my battles, instead of trying to fight every single one. So is it just me and the lady at the doctor's office? Or does this scenario happen to anyone else??
7 comments:
Yes disciplining is a fun one! Somedays that seems to be all I do, it is constantly. I really struggle with consistancy- sometimes I think my kids should behave so much better and other times I say hey they are just kids. Oh and on your other post about having so many kids, being so young and not knowing how to tell others that you are doing it cause its the right thing for you to do....I feel like that all the time, not just about having kids but about lots of things. I just don't know how to say it- is it preachy? or standing up for the right? is it something we should say or just smile and nod?
It's like me and the kids yesterday at the library. I saw no problem with letting them be a little rambunctious with the toys there. It was the children's wing, after all! But I still had a librarian come up to me and say "Are those your children?" Why yes, yes they are.
Linds, I love your blog. I can completely relate. Keep the stories coming.
I started laughing right away when you described the dad's actions because that happens in our family. Gotta love and appreciate their (Dads)efforts. And it is fun to people watch! :)
HA! Happens to me all the time.
We deal with this EXACT same thing! haha :) I try to tell Shem he doesn't need to be so hard on them-- when the kids aren't listening! :)
Definitely can relate. It's fun to watch other parents sometimes =D
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