I yelled at my daughter last night, not one of my better moments. I didn’t want to be bothered, she kept pestering, I lost it. I apologized later, of course.
My wife does some things that I disagree with and that many here would disagree with - she makes sure Sophia has a full calendar (relatively speaking), and she’s very, very, very insistent on education and homework: it’s a 24/7 process at our house, something that I never lived with growing up, that’s for sure.
On the other hand, Sophie is smart as a whip and that’s something I give her mother credit for… Sophia isn’t a kid who is internally-driven to be smart, she’s smart because we insist upon it. She’s also funny as hell, and has a good heart - last year she volunteered over 120 hours working in the church, the food bank, the park(s), etc.
My sister… OMG, it’s stunning how badly she parents, especially considering that we all grew up with the meme that Sis was going to be a great mother because she worked well with kids, becoming an elementary school teacher, etc.
HA!
The kids staying up late is common. Whining is common. Education is so not a priority there that… eh, just let me tell a story:
OK, so I flew in one Friday afternoon during the school year and was going to stay at my sisters that weekend before my business meetings Monday afternoon in Orlando. We were having dinner, and I asked the younger daughter, who was in the second or third grade, how school was today:
“Great! We had free day today because it was Friday, so I watched a movie and played a couple of games, and…”
“That sounds fun.” (to Sis) “Is it the end of the quarter or something?”
“No, why?”
“Oh, I was just wondering about the ‘free day’ and why they didn’t have class. If it’s the end of the quarter, it makes sense.”
“Third-graders and lower don’t do class on any Friday. It’s a free day.”
:snorts: “Are you serious? Why?”
“They’re young and they don’t need the pressure. So our school doesn’t give them classes on Friday.”
“But we had class on Friday when we grew up, Sis. Sophie has class every Friday, just like…”
niece butts in “Ewwwww, Sophie has to go to class on Friday? Does she have to take tests?”
“Well, of course.”
“Poor, Sophie.”
Uh… no. Poor you, kid. Poor you and your brother. Sorry that your mom and dad are OK with this. 