February 22nd, 2010 08:00am
by WineCountry.Mom
My mother called me over the weekend before the clock even hit 9 am.
“Are you at home right now?” she asked.
“I am.”
“What time are you going to take the kids over to their dad’s house?” she asked.
“Around 2,” I told her.
“Oh. That’s too late. Nevermind.”
She was being awfully cryptic, which of course got my curiosity up.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Well…..” She asked me if I remembered the Ninja Star that the Taz had been coloring at her house. Of course I remembered. He had colored it pure black and told me how all he had to do was throw it and it would whip through the air slicing anything in its way. I suggested that he not throw it in the kitchen, at least.
“I remember. Why?” I asked her.
“Well, apparently he was coloring it in my living room…”
(more…)
View All Comments (2)
TAGS argument, battle, kid, positive discipline, videogames, WC Mom stories | CATEGORY As a Parent...., Kid Issues
January 18th, 2010 09:17pm
by WineCountry.Mom
We want our kids to have friends. But sometimes friends aren’t welcome. Little Timmy comes over to play with your son, and lets himself into your home as soon as you open the door. And even though he came over to play with your son, suddenly your child is playing by himself in the living room while Timmy rifles through his things upstairs. He invites himself on your family outings. He opens your refrigerator to see what you have to eat. Maybe he lies repeatedly. Maybe he makes a mess of your home and then leaves before cleaning it up. He might use language that doesn’t fly in your home. He might be a hitter, or a biter, or use some other form of brutality to get his way. He might even steal your child’s belongings, maybe even yours. Whatever he’s doing wrong, the kid gets under your skin. Little Timmy has no sense of boundaries whatsoever, fails to follow the house rules even though you have reminded him of them repeatedly, and you have noticed that your child’s behavior has gone downhill dramatically ever since Timmy made his first appearance. And yet your child insists they want to be friends with them.
(How do you deal without dropkicking Little Timmy across the neighborhood? Read more…)
View All Comments (8)
TAGS argument, friends, kids, positive discipline, question | CATEGORY As a Parent...., Kid Issues
January 11th, 2010 12:12pm
by WineCountry.Mom
“Did you eat your breakfast?” I asked my son this morning as he turned on his video games before school.
“Uh, yeah,” he said.
“Alright, what did you eat?” I asked my little Tasmanian Devil.
“Oh yeah, I didn’t. But I’m not hungry,” he told me.
“Turn off the game. You’re not allowed to play until you have finished getting ready, and that includes eating breakfast and brushing your teeth,” I reminded him.
“Oh my gosh, Mom! You don’t care about me?” My son likes to go into dramatics when he isn’t getting his way, especially when it’s getting in the middle of his game playing time. “I told you I’m not hungry, and now you’re making me eat!”
(Read the rest of the argument here…)
View All Comments (2)
TAGS argument, kids, question, video, WC Mom stories | CATEGORY As a Parent...., Kid Issues, video
December 15th, 2009 09:30pm
by WineCountry.Mom
There’s a moment in Peter Pan, the one created in 2003, when Peter and Wendy are standing on the threshold of her nursery.
“Forget them, Wendy,” he whispers in her ear. “Forget them all. Leave the nursery, and you’ll never have to deal with grown up things forever.”
She smiles at him, wistfully. Downstairs, her parents are bounding the steps, racing upstairs after a panicked Nana alerted them that something was wrong.
“Forever,” she said with her small smile, “is an awfully long time.” (Read more…)
View All Comments (2)
TAGS argument, kids, School, teacher, WC Mom stories | CATEGORY As a Parent...., Kid Issues, School
August 25th, 2009 02:53pm
by WineCountry.Mom
Call it sassiness, adolescence, or plain old Back to School backtalk, but my 8 year old is suffering from it. And this means that our whole household is suffering from it. Last night was a prime example. We’ve been working on implementing the rules for a successful back to school schedule: packing up the backpack the night before, preparing most of the lunches, and being dressed for bed before bedtime …
Read More »
View All Comments (3)
TAGS argument, child, children, encouragement, hug, kid, positive discipline | CATEGORY Kid Issues
August 16th, 2009 12:32pm
by WineCountry.Mom
A mom was lamenting to me about her 13 year old son. He used to be such a nice kid – totally respectable and responsible, and extremely trustworthy. But things changed in the last year. His parents got divorced, surely a huge shock to his world. And with the divorce came a lot of changes. Both of his parents moved into new relationships, and suddenly he was spending his time …
Read More »
View All Comments (4)
TAGS argument, discipline, question, teens, videogames | CATEGORY Co-Parenting, Kid Issues
August 13th, 2009 04:34pm
by WineCountry.Mom
I was an awful teen. I can say that now that I’m in my 30’s, because I sure didn’t think so then. I thought my parents were idiots, completely clueless about anything in life. I was sassy (to put it nicely) and sullen. I would lock myself in my room all day long just to be on my own. And if they tried to ask …
Read More »
View All Comments (2)
TAGS argument, family, positive discipline, teens, WC Mom stories | CATEGORY Kid Issues
April 10th, 2009 07:50pm
by WineCountry.Mom
High noon. The sun beat down on us in between a smattering of clouds. A small trickle of sweat made its way down his forehead, and he brushed it away slowly as his gaze locked with mine. If he had any reservations, he showed no sign of it. The corner of his mouth was lifted in a crooked grin before he spat onto the dusty ground. We faced each other, the same motive in mind: one of us would be going down. His hand stayed at his side, half curled and ready for action. Neither one of us flinched as we held our ground and stared the other down. It was showtime, the hour of truth when all would be decided in a moment.
View All Comments (1)
TAGS argument, battle, Cleaning, discipline, kids, WC Mom stories | CATEGORY Kid Issues
Life seemed to start when my daughter was born in February of 1998. I was 20 years old and I knew nothing about motherhood. 3 years later and I also became the mom of a son. But when I look back at all that now, I can see that this was only the prologue. Life changes, and mine certainly did when I became a divorced mom with two kids to raise.