Here are some typical reactions to just about anything positive we say to people about our baby. For instance, we say, He sleeps most of the time, he's been great about that so far. They say, Oh, just wait 'til (teething, potty training, teenage years), he'll do (some horrible thing). If we say something negative about the kid, like, He kept us up all night last night, they say, Oh just wait, my kid projectile pooped, vomited, and passed gas, his head spun around and spit pea soup, or he ran away became a carney.
Why the one-upmanship about how terrible your kids is? I'm thinking, exactly, why my kid is better than yours. I mean, no offense, but you just said what stupid or annoying thing yours did. Why argue?
That's a pretty annoying thing that I hope to avoid in the coming years--the urge to share my wealth of knowledge. No offense to anyone whose given us advice, but when it comes down to it, we'll wreck this kid's life our own way.
Posted by cmwillis at August 27, 2003 09:38 PM | TrackBackAmen to that!! I Am 35 yrs old, and am in the process of raising 3 kids, my oldest of which is a junior in highschool. Still people...complete strangers, might I add...seem compelled to come up to me and tell me how to raise my kids...as if it is SO obvious that I'm doing a lousy job. Funny thing is, people like my kids. They are well-behaved, kind, sensitive kids (most of the time, anyway), and they get along well with others. Yet I must have "incompetent parent" tattooed on my forehead, and I just don't realize it because people that I talk to for 10 minutes will tell me what I SHOULD be doing with my kids. My favorite one is: you need to let your kids fight their own battles. Because I am involved in my kids lives, and I watch my 6 yr old while she's outside playing, I am, apparently, too involved in her life, and I'm not letting her "fight her own battles. Because when my son was 6, I stopped the neighborhood kid from beating him with a baseball bat as he rode by on his bike, I'm not teaching him the value of fighting his own battles....this from a woman whose son locked himself in the trunk of her car for over an hour, and she didn't notice he was missing!
I echo your sentiment wholeheartedly...to all you well-meaning parents out there who are so quick to dispense advice: let me screw up my own kids, and you worry about yours!!
Posted by: chris at August 28, 2003 08:25 PMDon't feel bad! People say all sorts of things they maybe shouldn't. The current best one that I get is, "Are you seeing anyone special?" "Well, no." All I can think is, "I just keep striking out in the world series of love" or "Well, women don't seem to like me anymore, or any longer than a week!"
Posted by: Jeep at August 28, 2003 01:16 PMsorry friend
Posted by: methodius at August 28, 2003 12:19 AM