Shortly after our return from Disney World my son demanded he be a puppy, this went farther than the walking around the house saying "Ruff, Ruff." I'll give him credit, he was dedicated to the cause. We would walk in the door after school each day and within seconds he would be down to his underwear, wondering why? "Because puppies don't wear clothes, Mom. That would be silly." Convincing the child to put clothes on for school or any outings was painful and difficult. He was sure he could and would be a puppy anywhere he went. He would crawl around the house on all fours. When getting off of the furniture he repeatedly did nose dives into the carpet from going head first, why... "Because puppies go front feet first, Mom."
I went along with this for a couple of days, even calling him my little puppy, thinking it couldn't last very long. 1 month later, I still get told "No, Mom, you are supposed to say 'Good Night, Puppy.'" Apparently my encouragement of their imaginations went a little far this time around. Out of the blue last night, he left his clothes on and when it was time for bed, you won't believe what he did.... HE PUT PAJAMAS ON! And when he woke up this morning, they were still on his little body!
Veronica
My daughter is without a doubt a smart little girl, has a mind of her own most days and usually doesn't 'follow the crowd' and usually follows the rules that we've set out in our home. An example, she (and Max) received a couple of Valentines at their school parties that were of characters I don't allow in my house (namely Brats & Sponge Bob*). When they went through their loot, she discovered these and said, "Mom, maybe I should throw these away, we aren't allowed to have them." I explained to her it was a card from friends and they can put them in their memory boxes, but yes she was right, I wasn't going to buy or let them buy Brats or Sponge Bob.
Fast forward to yesterday morning, time and time again, I have told the kids at the bus stop it's really not a good idea to play on the huge snow bank that is between the sidewalk and the [very busy] street at the bus stop and if they wanted to play in the snow, they should play on the other side of the sidewalk, where it is safe. Of the 9 kids that still take the bus in the morning, (I take responsibility for 4 of them), 3 listened to me and my logic and I've never seen them play on the gigantic snow bank at the stop sign again. Can you guess who the 4th one is?... That's right, my usually smart, follows the rules daughter (who was in the car just 2 weeks ago when the deer came out of no where and we couldn't stop or swerve fast enough before we hit it-yes, I used this example). I pulled up to the bus stop yesterday morning to say goodbye to her and *Gasp!* guess who was on the snow bank!? I called her over to talk to me and asked her what her punishment should be for not listening or following the rules. Her reply, "Maybe you should take away my high heels for 2 weeks." Ummmm... really, take away something that I told her she couldn't wear in the house anymore anyways (because she's clumsy and has tripped and almost flown down the stairs in those stupid high heels). So, I told her that just wasn't a good enough punishment. I got my girlfriends on board and she went to time-out after school in front of her friends. This was going to work, I know it!
This morning, while she's eating breakfast, I asked her if the embarrassment of being put in time-out in front of her friends at someone else's house was enough to make her follow the rules... her response "No, not really." I don't understand how she will follow the rules to something so trivial as Brats or Sponge Bob, but be so desperate to follow the crowd when it comes to something as dangerous as basically playing in traffic. Since I can't trust her to be smart about the dangers of the road, I guess I'll be bringing my shovel to the corner this weekend and getting rid of that damn snow bank!
*Disclaimer: We all have our own ideas and values of the things acceptable and allowed in our house and whats not, so please, if you allow these things in your homes, don't be offended, I have my own quirky reasons I don't like them or let my kids play with them.
Fast forward to yesterday morning, time and time again, I have told the kids at the bus stop it's really not a good idea to play on the huge snow bank that is between the sidewalk and the [very busy] street at the bus stop and if they wanted to play in the snow, they should play on the other side of the sidewalk, where it is safe. Of the 9 kids that still take the bus in the morning, (I take responsibility for 4 of them), 3 listened to me and my logic and I've never seen them play on the gigantic snow bank at the stop sign again. Can you guess who the 4th one is?... That's right, my usually smart, follows the rules daughter (who was in the car just 2 weeks ago when the deer came out of no where and we couldn't stop or swerve fast enough before we hit it-yes, I used this example). I pulled up to the bus stop yesterday morning to say goodbye to her and *Gasp!* guess who was on the snow bank!? I called her over to talk to me and asked her what her punishment should be for not listening or following the rules. Her reply, "Maybe you should take away my high heels for 2 weeks." Ummmm... really, take away something that I told her she couldn't wear in the house anymore anyways (because she's clumsy and has tripped and almost flown down the stairs in those stupid high heels). So, I told her that just wasn't a good enough punishment. I got my girlfriends on board and she went to time-out after school in front of her friends. This was going to work, I know it!
This morning, while she's eating breakfast, I asked her if the embarrassment of being put in time-out in front of her friends at someone else's house was enough to make her follow the rules... her response "No, not really." I don't understand how she will follow the rules to something so trivial as Brats or Sponge Bob, but be so desperate to follow the crowd when it comes to something as dangerous as basically playing in traffic. Since I can't trust her to be smart about the dangers of the road, I guess I'll be bringing my shovel to the corner this weekend and getting rid of that damn snow bank!
*Disclaimer: We all have our own ideas and values of the things acceptable and allowed in our house and whats not, so please, if you allow these things in your homes, don't be offended, I have my own quirky reasons I don't like them or let my kids play with them.
I just have to ask your reasons why you don't allow Spongebob...
ReplyDeleteOne of my roommates in college (one that answered an ad in the paper for a room available) used to sit on the floor in front of the tv completely baked, having the munchies and laughing his ass off a that show. Now everytime I see it, that's what I picture, so it's not allowed in my house!
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