First off, I want to thank everyone who stopped by to wish me a Happy Birthday! You all are the greatest friends in the blogosphere! Despite the furnace breaking down AGAIN on my actual birthday (that’s tomorrow’s blog), I did manage to have a good one.
Now back to Manic Monday, which this week is Explosive! I could tell you about some of the explosive diapers I’ve changed since I’ve had the job of M-O-M, but I really don’t want to think about my children’s poop right now, so I think I’m going in a different direction.
My best friend just called me this afternoon and said, “Does your child ever talk back in a tone that just makes you want to smack the shit out of them in the middle of Target?”
Why, yes! That actually happens all the time. From Eli, I get “the tone” and from Georgia, I get the explosive temper tantrums.
She’s actually getting better in the fact that they are getting a little less frequent. However when they do occur, you just can’t calm her down. It can be something as simple as me changing the TV from Dora to the News. That alone will send her running through the house screaming.
Or it can be something like the deli at Walmart being out of popcorn chicken. That tantrum will last throughout the rest of the store. Or if I don’t let her have a piece of candy when we drop Eli off at preschool – that will cause her to throw herself on the ground and kick. (Side note: I’ve learned never to let her wear Crocs on preschool days because they easily fly off during kicking tantrums.)
As bad as these tantrums are, I think I am managing quite well. Either that or I’m just developing a very thick skin. For example, I have become oblivious to hundreds of people staring at me at once. (The key is just to look straight ahead and don’t make eye contact with anyone.)
Second, I have no qualms about singing in public, since that is one of the few things that will calm my daughter. And third, I am completely oblivious to other children’s screaming. A child can be on the floor in the middle of the a store, screaming, head spinning around, and literally turning into the devil incarnate. If it’s not my child, I don’t even hear it.
As well as I can handle explosive tantrums, I do have some weaknesses. If anyone makes a comment about my child or my parenting skills, I will grab them by the neck. My other weakness is that as children get older, they learn how to push your buttons. Eli knows that throwing a tantrum gets him nowhere. But if he uses a sarcastic tone or mocks me, I want to smack the shit out of him in the middle of Target.
I need to work on that.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Manic Monday - Explosive
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11 comments:
I'm telling you Neila, you could write an explosive book about your kids. I not kidding. It would be a hoot. Excellent as always, but you know how I love to read about your adventures with your kids. Have a great MM. :)
I swear to God, our kids are one in the same. With my oldest, I get the tone...attitude, head shakes, etc. Tyler...EXPLOSIVE tantrums. *sigh*
Happy EXPLOSIVE Manic Monday, Neila.
Oh my, you poor women. Keep gas in your car so that you can get to the liquor store, lol.
Happy MM! :D
lol! I remember those days! Good luck! Happy MM!
Mine is here: http://blog.mysocalledsite.com/?p=256
Don't worry I knew that too, in a few years you will all laugh about it together !
I'd say that the key to the kid explosions is to ignore, ignore, ignore. I can remember my youngest pitching a fit somewhere and I just kept walking. I ignored her screaming as I pushed the carriage through the store. I shopped. She screamed. It didn't last long. As soon as she calmed down, I stopped ignoring her. She got the message.
Although the mouth - that's harder to ignore. As a matter of fact, we got the "mouth" from our oldest yesterday and we exploded. He was shocked and decided that he'd better disappear for a while. When he came down, he had figured out that amazingly enough, we weren't stupid as previously suspected.
Good luck. It gets easier.
LBC
My kids are mostly past the explosive tantrums stage, although my dear sweet daughter has her father's Irish temper, and that's plenty explosive enough.
Ian
Oh yes, we are at ages 7 and 5 where the word NO is frequently thrown at us.......
Happy Monday, come check out my explosive post!
You absolutely rock! Surviving the early stages of mommyhood deserves a medal.
I lucked out as both of mine did a really good job of raising themselves and all I had to do was learn to ignore the negative and reward the positive. It's just a itty bit harder than training puppies (sure it is!)
Ohhh, that sounds familiar to me... I´ve heard it before... where... wait... oh, yes... *here* Georgia and Luis have lots in common.
I confess I´m not as good as you in coping with the little explosions (mostly I´m helpless), but I hope I will someday. See, Luis is just getting started - and so am I.
P.S.: Please come over for a comment-box explosion... a classic:
Time for the Comment Game
My ex-mother-in-law once told one of her kids that if he didn't stop what he was doing immediately she was going to rip his arm off and beat him with the bloody stump in the middle of a K-Mart once. I knew exactly what she was talking about though there were some people around that looked totally appalled! Obviously they didn't have kids!
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