Thursday, June 16, 2011

Excuse me?

I promised my kids we would walk to the beach today. Lucky for me it has been SOOOOO overcast. It's given me time to clean and FB and stuff like that. So I'm walking around doing the THIRD round of picking up my kids toys. SE looks at me and says "Mom, I have a great idea. I'm going to sit on the couch and watch you clean while we wait for the sun to come out"
........................................
I'm going to type that out again, just for clarification.

Mom, I have a great idea. I'm going to sit on the couch and watch you clean while we wait for the sun to come out.


Is she insane? Where is her straight jacket? Did she sneak into the liquor cabinet? Did she find my flask? Did she find her way into some magic brownies? She must be high.

It actually took what felt like 5 minutes to process this information, sort my rage, and decide how I would explode at her. And boy did I explode. It went something like this.

*one hand on hip, one had shaking the vacuum attachment at her*
" Are you serious right now?!? YOU THINK IT'S OK TO SIT THERE AND WATCH WHILE I CLEAN UP YOUR MESS? WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? DO YOU THINK I LIKE CLEANING UP AFTER YOU?? I DON'T! IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU[being messy, not her in general] I  WOULDN'T BE CLEANING THIS MESS, YOUR MESS! THESE ARE YOUR TOYS. NOT MINE. THESE ARE YOUR CLOTHES, NOT MINE. THESE ARE YOUR CUPS AND BOWLS, NOT MINE. WHY DON'T YOU GET UP OFF YOUR ASS AND PICK UP AFTER YOURSELF???"

and the mother of the year award goes to...... not me.
But look, I was freaking fed up at that point. I don't want to raise spoiled brats who think they can just make a mess and have it magically disappear. That's one of the reasons I got rid of the dog.

On a plus side- do you know how fast both of my kids shot up and started cleaning? I'm not proud of the fact that I blew up at her. I'm glad I did though. Sometimes they need to be reminded that they need to be responsible too. They're old enough to be cleaning up after themselves anyway. (at least, that's how I'm going to justify it in my head) They are 5 and 7. That's plenty old to pick up your damn toys and mix me a cocktail.

7 comments:

  1. Amen!!

    Oh and I was fixing a mean martini for my Dad by age 10. :)

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  2. My husband has our two year old son trained to pick up his toys before leaving the house. I don't know how the hell he did it, but thankful he did.

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  3. hey, you are ok! Sometimes kids learn best if you get mad like that once in a while, It kind of knocks some sense in them! Glad they ended up helping you! I would have been so mad too, glad I am not at that point yet!

    --Sandy

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  4. This reminded me of my 5 and 7 year old girls. They are quite, "spririted." Patience is not my strong point these days. I'm not a drinker, but I find ice cream helps me cope. :)

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  5. Yes, bartending school should be part of the Kindergarten curriculum. Seriously, what are they waiting for? They can pour...they can shake, they can toss in an olive.

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  6. Wow! Maybe I'm the minority but I'd call that GREAT parenting! They responded! That must mean you made some sense to them. I have a 3 and 8 year old and even when I yell at the 8 year old he doesn't get a clue. He still won't dress himself in the morning! Don't even get me started on the laundry I do for him.. he still wets the bed.. almost every day. Okay maybe I need to blog about this somewhere else and leave you guys alone..... uggggg!

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Thoughts?