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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

And I am so thankful I'm NOT a mom. I say that because this week we volunteered to babysit the two little horrors that are our nephews.

Someone's going to say it eventually, so it might as well be me. Those two are brats. They're almost three and almost two, and they...
- Demand rather than ask politely
- Spit at the table
- Bite
- Never share
- Disobey
- In fact, disregard adult input entirely
- Scream when they do not get their way
- Pull hair

Now, I know some of this behavior is expected from two year olds. And I hate to be the childless adult giving my expert opinion. But I did have six younger brothers, and I did basically raise them (with the help of my saintly sister, thank you Melissa), and this kind of behavior consistently is called being a brat.

Every time one child picked up a toy, the other would snatch it from him, usually accompanied by a punch or bite.
Dinner was a spit-fest.
One of them bit me when I said they needed to say "please" when they asked for something.
The other tackled David, pulled his hair, and gouged his eyes for no reason.
When it was time to go home from the park, the three year old refused, argued, shouted ("I said NO! Shut up! I'm not going home!") and the two year old lay on the ground with arched back and screamed for 5 minutes.

I would write this off as parental separation anxiety/testing authority of other adults/tired, sick, or teething, but the behavior doesn't stop. When dad came to pick them up, they ran over to hug him - followed by bites, punches, and fighting. Needless to say, he did not correct them. In fact, he laughs it off. "Oh, it doesn't hurt, they're so little."
The kids struggle to know the rules because:
- Their parents don't agree on the rules
- The kids are not on a schedule of any kind
- Thus bedtime is "whenever they fall asleep" (you can imagine how well this works out)
- Their diet is extremely poor, almost entirely white flour/white sugar based, little protein and no fresh fruits or veggies
- Eating has become a big battle - forcing them to eat, arguing over it, throwing food (the astonishing thing is that they are being forced to eat fast food hamburgers, mini powdered donuts, Little Debbies, and potato chips!)
- They spend certain days of the week with different relatives as babysitters (including overnights), so in one week they will have their parents, both sets of grandparents, a great-aunt, and an aunt - all with various rules.

Today at Mother's Day lunch I saw a 10 minute fight over a bib that ended with the three year old victorious - multiple times. See, mom kept giving in: "Ok, no bib, but then you have to wear your old shirt." "Ok, no old shirt, but then you have to wear no shirt." etc. Little baby won each battle, then won the war by getting his original way - eating with his church clothes on - and purposefully smearing berries all over them.

I don't know what the point of this post is. I guess it serves as a happy mothers day to all of you, because even if you suck at being a mom you must be doing a better job than this. Ha, kidding.

No seriously, I have no point to this post. Just venting.

11 comments:

  1. In general, I'm not a huge fan of kids. I find most of them rude and disobedient. Some of that IS just being a kid and pushing boundaries. Some of it is just bad parenting. Obviously I'm not perfect and neither is my kid, but I definitely enforce manners! Anyway, sorry you had a bad babysitting experience. So nice of you to even do it. My nephews are terrors and I refuse to watch them (I'm so mean).

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  2. blah horrible-sounds ike someone needs to bring that British nanny in-on the TV show.

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  3. oh boy..this sounds like parents are the problems. I have 2 sons who are 18 mos apart and I dont tolerate crap like that ever. I have friends who do and now that the kids are 10 ans up they are paying the price. I am very strict and it is not always easy to not give in to buy the peace. My kids are not perfect of course but they are not brat. They are polite. Raising them is my job. Full time. Before the kids I worked as an engineer it was a demanding job with long hours. I can tell you that being a full time parent is much harder!!!
    It is sad because really this is not the kids fault.

    Hope your running break went well..! :)

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  4. My Mum always said that kids need boundaries and she's right. How can they learn acceptable behaviour if they're not taught right from wrong? Sounds like you had a tough night babysitting.

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  5. Aw, I actually feel sorry for the kids. :( That is tough to be raised without any structure. :( Yikes!

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  6. Yikes! WTF? Kids are usually angels for other people like fun aunts and uncles.

    This kind of crap would last about 5 seconds in my house. Then again, my husband and I have let it be known who's boss and there is no disputing that. Period. Sounds like your nephews are running the roost. Good luck with all that!

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  7. Yes. Kids need boundaries. And discipline! I totally blame it on the parents, and if they don't nip it in the bud soon, they are going to have a 9 and a 10 year old brat instead of a 2 and 3 yr old!

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  8. Those are tough ages, but without consistent feedback and boundaries, they are never going to learn. It's sad that their parents are not giving them any structure. My kids are no perfect angels, but we do our best to keep them on track, & they are *generally* pretty polite in public, and in front of others.

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  9. Wow. I think that is awful and I don't think it is normal or just how kids are. I think they are how they are taught to be and none of that is okay. Talk about birth control! ha!

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  10. Those poor kids, it must be hard for them not see their parents. Its not going to get any easier for them or the people who watch them as time goes on.

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  11. Wow this would frustrate me! I hope my sisters are all good parents... Haha. I will not be babysitting if the kids are like this.

    I seriously wonder how we went from "normal" upbringings by our parents and then fell so far down the hill with all the kids after us...

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