Jack thought the event was ridiculous and acted like a tool for the whole hour. It must have taken a lot of effort, because while he frequently acts like a tool, he compensates by more frequently being a sweet boy, a good boy, a nice boy, and a funny boy. I don’t like him very much when he acts like a tool for no reason. And lately he hates anything he thinks is for girls—which is anything on the Disney Channel, in his opinion. It’s really quite ridiculous, because Jack watches Disney Channel all the time, so he obviously doesn’t hate it. Even when the cheerleaders played a Phineas & Ferb song today, he pretended not to recognize it. PHINEAS & FERB! COME ON! I was tempted to leave him at that friggin’ Radio Disney kids’ camp just because I know it would have been pure torture. It was really only the risk of heat exhaustion that made me push him away from camp and back toward the car. When we got there, I kinda wanted to steer him toward the trunk instead of the back seat but there were too many witnesses.
What do you do with your kids when they turn into little fart-knockers? When you want to take away every privilege they have and not do anything nice for them, like provide food and shelter?
I handle the "tool" behavior by putting my arm around my little offender's shoulder and, pretending to whisper sweet motherly things I actually say, "DON'T make me beat you in public. Cuz I definitely WILL."
ReplyDeleteBTW- we miss you guys already! Let us know when the next "parent's night out" occurs. Of course, every night is such for us these days.
Just happened with Trevor at a movie theatre. He saw a kid from school that was there with his family. Trevor made a point of saying "Ewww there's Ethan!" he thought quietly. I'm pretty sure the kid noticed that Trevor saw him. I was mortified and looked at him really sternly and said "Go say hi." Of course he wouldn't and I was furious. And naturally, they ended up going to the same movie we were seeing. Why is it such a "weird" thing when kids see each other outside of school. They act like aliens.
ReplyDeleteI quit talking to him which makes him a bit nervous but not all that upset.
I guess I didn't really handle it at all. Nevermind. I have no idea what to do.
Yea, I got nothin. Parker throws me for a loop every couple of days. I actually threaten to take away the Disney channel though because he really likes it.
ReplyDeleteI can't stand talk back or rude behavior. Luckily Seth doesn't pull the attitude stuff too much, but when he has, and I'm sure will again, I cut off ALL monitors--if it's got a screen, he's not in front of it. 24 hours usually does the trick. Once you've done that a couple of times and they know you mean biz, all you have to do is pull out the threat, but rarely use it. And you have to be willing to really enforce it. But the pain at the front end really pays off with the understanding that "Yes, Mom, I was a tool."
ReplyDeleteOf course, that may only work with a media-obsessed boy like mine...
OK, so I reread that and sound like a hard-ass parent... I really AM loving and don't run a boot camp... really. If you don't believe me I'll take away your monitor time!
ReplyDeleteI believe you, Sherilee! Don't take away my monitor time!
ReplyDeleteJust recently one of mine said "You're not paying enough attention to me! Waaa! I'm gonna be mean to you until you do! And I'm gonna make body sounds and bad smells until you scream. And I'm gonna say personal anatomy words real loud until you hide from embarrassment." Sooo, I stopped talking to him and slugged him in the arm.
ReplyDeleteOh, never mind. That was Ron.