In a similar vein to another thread on further down the page, but with a different twist.
For Parents: What things that drove you nuts when your parents said them/did them do you now do with your child…and view it as perfectly OK.
I’ll start with the simple low hanging fruit: “Do it because I said so.” Drove me crazy as a kid, but I find myself saying it regularly with my nearly 3 year old daughter who occasionally decides to give me supreme crap about doing the simplest of tasks. “Into bed…it’s time for bed.” “Nope…I’m dancing.” “Into bed, now…it’s past your bedtime.” “Why should I?” “Because I’m the dad, and I said so!”
(Usually there’s more before the I said so).
Obviously, there’s safety and responsibility type things that kids just don’t consider that adults do, but I’m more interested in the phrases/actions that really drove you bonkers, and that you just couldn’t understand why they imposed that rule, etc…
Joshing them out of tantrums. I used to hate it when my dad cheered me up when I was in an irrational grump about something. It was so obviously artificial and manipulative but it worked. Now I do it all the time. The boys commonly develop (say) an irrational but immovable angry determination that they are going to do/not do something. If you can get them laughing and joking they forget why they were so determined to be obstinate and can be quite happy to do/not do whatever it was that a few minutes before they were determined not to/to do.
Not now, 'cos my kids are essentially grown-ups themselves, but I DID use the euphemism of the good old ‘Wig Wam for a Goose’s Bridle’ when they asked about something and I was not in the position to ‘explain’ its full funtion on the spot.
And that’s the explanation my mum gave to me 40 years ago, so if it was good enough for her, it’s good enough for me, yay!!
“What’s for dinner?” “Fried (your name).” Because they will NOT STOP ASKING what’s for dinner and there are three of them and I don’t want to hear all the “Why can’t we have steak” crap.
I did it this morning. He broke a very expensive necklace that I really loved. It was an unusual David Yurman piece that my mom gave me. He was trying to get it on over his head and broke the chain. I kept telling him not to and got it out of his hands; then he grabbed it again and tried to jerk it on before I could take it away. After he broke it, he immediately started whining and fake crying to avoid getting into trouble.
I don’t have much expensive jewelry - just my engagement ring, my wedding ring and that necklace. Normally I feel bad about guilt tripping him, but I didn’t today.
