" I’m a little surprised that you are all assuming that this is a non-issue. That I should not at least TRY to figure out if it is significant or not. Just wait to see if she starts torturing small animals or becomes infatuated with raw meat?"
WHOA! THis is too much.
No is genuinly huirt by the knot-twisting. As for your wife’s reaction - I have to be bruatlly honest here - I think maybe she needs to relax and find out why such a minimal bit of rebellion is making her freak out. SHe wants to have nice things but gets frustrated when a child makes it messy? Welcome to parenthood.
If you were my father I would lead you on an emotional rollercoaster wild goose chase every day. Yeah. Just for shits and giggles. This sounds like something from Full House or any other really corny family show. You must show your kids a little something of the real world sometimes. Say words like ‘FUCK’ and ‘GODDAMIT’ in the most nonschalont manner possible. Let them see you doing drugs and cheating on your wife. Beat them. Watch pornography on the family TV. Buy a fucking motorcycle for god sakes. The kind of kids that get their ski trip cancelled for knots in the blanket fringe grow up to be emotionally FUCKED. You said yourself they were socially impared. ITS YOUR FAULT. for being gay like the dad on Full House. My family celebrated dysfunction on a daily basis and I turned out just fine. Brian Warner (marylin manson) was obsessively sheltered douring most of his childhood and LOOK AT HIM.
OK nevermind the first part of this message. that was stupid. I have some advice. Let your kids wear what they want, listen to what they want, and be freinds with whomever they want. Otherwise we could have the next marylin manson on our hands. I’m sure you have seen parodies of the ‘perfect family’ and laughed. well my freind, YOU ARE THE BUTT OF THAT JOKE. whos laughing now? I am. hahahahaha you sheltered little FUCK.
From where I’m sitting, I haven’t noticed anyone saying that those kids deserve their ski trip come hell or high water. It’s the motivation for cancelling the ski trip that’s concerning people, not the cancellation itself. If a parent said “We can’t afford a ski trip right now” or “I’m just not up to it since Grandma died,” any kid with a shred of intelligence and/or empathy ought to realize those are valid reasons for skipping a ski trip. “We’re overreacting to the blanket fringe” isn’t remotely in the same ball park. Think of the same situation applied to a date or a dinner with friends.
One of the things my parents did that always pissed me off was overreact to some minor fact and draw shaky conclusions, a la “The blanket fringe is braided, so we think our daughter might have emotional problems.” When my mom asked me who was in my tenth grade geometry class and I said “I don’t know” with a shrug, she immediately concluded that I was a complete and utter outcast who wasn’t making any effort to get to know my classmates. That it was Septemner, in a class of 35, with limited opportunity for interaction, drawn from a class of about 700 apparently never occured to her. It doesn’t do much for parent/child trust.
Maybe it’s because of the hour, but I don’t understand this.
IMHO, Dinsdale has provided a forum for everyone to vent, by telling war stories and/or griping about parenting in general. The same advice, opinions and objections have been hashed over and over.
[ul] [sup]I never dreamed there were so many fidgeters in the world.[/sup][/ul]
Dinsdale, I’m not sure if you’re reading this thread anymore, since I see no more posts, but here’s a thought:
It sounds like you might have good reason to suspect your youngest, as she has been compulsive in the past. If you really want to talk to her about it, maybe this approach would work.
I’m not sure how long ago your little girl was pulling at her hair. (I did this too, btw, when I was about that age. The habit only lasted for about a year. I turned out okay, and now have more hair than I know what to do with.) If it wasn’t that long ago, it may still be VERY hard for her to keep from doing it. I’m sure she knows that the hair-pulling upset you. The bald patches probably upset her too.
Is it possible that she was braiding the fringe to do something instead of pulling her hair? She may have actually believed that it was the better choice. It might have worked so well that she did it a second time, because the other option looked worse. Not wanting to confess to it would then have been understandable, since it would be embarrassing and maybe a little confusing, especially in front of her siblings.
If you approach her privately and with an attitude that you are concerned about HER and not the blankets (Which I’m sure you ARE, but it can be hard for kids to see that.), she might be willing to talk about it. I’d say something like, “Honey, did you maybe want to pull your hair and think that braiding the blanket would help? If that’s what happened, let’s find another way for you to keep your hands busy. What do you think would work?” As a former teacher, I have found that that kind of approach really DOES work, and kids love to have a say in what they do.
You know, I could see if these were blankets for decoration or whatever, but since they’re just to keep warm with-who CARES??
They’ll get things spilled on them, get matted, faded, threadbare, etc.
Look-I am not saying that Dinsdale is a bad parent. I said, he’s overreacting and he needs to stop and THINK about his reaction.
If he flips out over something like this, I’d HATE to see what would happen if those kids did something REALLY bad. If anything, the kids aren’t going to want to confide in a parent like that, and are more likely to be sneaky.
Knock it off, Kill Me Now, immediately and for good. Your posting history consists in large part of barging into threads to spew venom. In this specific instance you blatantly violated the rules of IMHO. You are not permitted to hurl obscenities and personal insults at anyone, under any circumstances, in this forum.
Consider yourself warned. You either shape up or you will be gone.
The OP requested this thread be closed and I agree. It’s turned into little better than a pile-on.
[sup]I never dreamed there were so many fidgeters in the world.[/sup][/ul]