Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Once upon a time...

...this was a commonly used phrase at our house. It seemed to cover a multitude of "why" questions that came my way. This, in addition to "because I said so..." were well accepted answers by my little ones and I was pleased. Imagine my concern when more complicated answers were required of me. Soon came the "because I don't feel good about it..." and "because nothing good happens after midnight..." explanations. These answers worked great and I was again pleased. I was back AND bringin' my A-game. It wasn't long before a more in-depth explanation became necessary. I was hearing things like, "everybody else is doing it/has one...." or "nobody else I know has a bedtime/chores/to eat that..." After the "NOW what do I do?!?" moment passed, I was able to come back with the classic responses of, "If everybody jumped off a cliff would you do it too??..." and, "When you are a grown up, you can decide...." and finally, (my favorite) "As long as you live under my roof, you will do what I say...." Wouldn't you know it, they worked like a charm! You may be pleased to know that all of my children are happy, healthy and productive young adults. I owe it all to my parents and their parents before them. Without learning these priceless techniques from them, things may have turned out very differently. I am thrilled to be able to pass these proven parenting strategies on to you. Because of them, my children have never given me a moments worry. ** okay, okay...these were not the only parenting strategies I used. Honestly, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing while raising these kids. And, truth be told, there were times that my kids gave me so much gas that I didn't think I would live another day. We had many discussions (at times, very heated discussions) that went late into the night, several road trip conversations, many, many laughs (both at and with them),the acknowledgement of the good and bad examples of those around us, some begging/pleading/screaming, a couple of whacks on the behind, some grounding, a smidgen of bribery, more tears than I want to admit and a whole lot of praying. Aside from their wonderful personalities and sweet spirits I would probably credit this as to why my kids are so great! I hope you at least got a little giggle out of this post. With Mother's Day around the corner, I know some of us start feeling a little down on ourselves, thinking that maybe we should have tried a little harder or done some things differently. So I would like to send out a little love to all the mothers out there that are giving it all they've got. Here's to you Blog Mommies....Keep up the good work!!! :):):):):)

4 comments:

Sara Adams said...

It worked. That post was exactly what I needed to hear at this moment. Luckly I'm still in the "because I said so" stage. Thanks for the laugh!

Anonymous said...

I loved it! Thank you.. and your kids are great :-) keeping passing along the good advice!

Anonymous said...

Well - as one whose only child is a Chihuahua...I will leave it to the experts! :) Isn't it funny how when we're young...we always say, "I'll never say that!" and now that we're old(er) we are saying those things our parents always used to say! Growing up is a funny business for parents and kids alike!

Andrea said...

loved the post. and I'm taking notes as my oldest will offically be a teenager (13) in one month. YIKES! and thanks for the comment about the vinyl lettering. I think that's what I'll do with it!