Last week my 5-year-old kicked me in the shins while we stood in the checkout at Rite Aid. Granted, we should not have been at Rite Aid so late, and by late I mean 6:30 p.m. And perhaps, since I was the one who dragged her and her toddler brother out to get toddler Tylenol, I should have been more understanding. Maybe I should have just purchased the toy cars and lollipops they were yelling for as I tried to pay, so the rest of the line would stop wondering why I had been allowed to have kids in the first place.
But I was mean. I did not purchase toy cars and lollipops. Instead I scooped each kid up and dragged both of them screeching out of the store. (In our whole family, the only people who aren’t a little dramatic are the ones who are dead.) I strapped them into their car seats and drove the three minutes home, contemplating whether the timeouts should begin in our Toyota or in our apartment.
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Well, Kirsten, I too am a "meanie"...my kids are now 20 and 18 and above-average, thankyouverymuch...what i related to was the kicking...our house burned down in '97 and the kids lost all their toys (we did salvage most of our pictures and my cd collection)...anyway, we had a good policy and ended up with something like 80k to replace the contents of the house...so, we'd go on these shopping splurges at the Westchester Mall (NY) and I'd limit them to three toys per visit...until Patrick decided he "hated me" -- at age five, so we just packed up and went home...he got over it, i dealt with the fact that my child broke my heart, but today he's an excellent young man, hard worker both at college and during the summer, and he's got "stuff" -- ipod, Mac, but still no smart phone...we have a deal with my wife's company where the three of us get our phones for $10/month, unlimited calling/texting, but no media -- and, you know what, i may now live in the sticks (Ligonier, PA), but I get the whole techno-weenie parade, it's just that I can't justify $360 per phone per year and both of my kids are too cheap (with their money) to upgrade...so, we text a lot and friends look things up and Bridey has the "CrackBerry" when we travel, but where will it end? I've spent my first weeks of summer liberty (middle school teacher) by hammering away at the garage, with my sights on the barn/shed/shack, the attic, and finally and most ominously, the basement...we'll be having our first ever barn/shed/shack sale and you're welcome to come and browse but, please, don't take anything home...Blessings, Pete in PA