Raising the Next Generation

It has been a weird, weird Mommy week.  Two outings with the 5 kids and two weird Mommy moments.  First up, the library.  My spunky nephew was playing with a wire beaded track when an older boy came and put his hand over my nephew's so he couldn't move.  Not even a few seconds later the older boy tried to push him out of the way.  Knowing my nephew, I waited for him to take care of it.  He immediately told the boy, "NO!" over and over and over.

As I watched my two year old nephew taking care of business, I kept waiting for the mom of the other boy to redirect him.  Instead, she bribes and coerces and baby talks her son to move to the other side.  He wasn't budging and my nephew kept up with his NOs, and he's not a quiet one. 

Finally, the mom pries the boy away and he gets to working on something else.  Not a minute later Chubby Cheekers tries to push this older boy out of the way because he wanted to play.  I immediately grabbed him and told him he wasn't going to take a toy from someone else.  He'd have to wait.

What came next made me wish I had a picture of my own face.  The mom looks at me and says, "Oh, it's not him we had a problem with."  Then she whispers real soft, "It's this little boy," and she points to my nephew. 

Say whaaaaat???? 

I loved telling her he was mine too, and I totally supported him telling her child no.  He had been there playing quietly for a while and didn't need to give up his toy to make her son happy.  I don't think she was too happy with me.  It was awkward, but don't think for a second I will let my kids feel like they did something wrong for standing up for what's right.

Weird Mommy Moment #1.

If that wasn't awkward enough, we head to the park the next day.  Chubby Cheekers found a good size mud puddle and was stomping around in it.  Totally content.  Having a blast.  I had not one problem with it.  He was happy.  It was just mud.  I love watching the kids get messy. 

Then another mom comes over to me and says, "Ummmm, do you know one of your kids is in the mud?"

Again, I needed a picture of my own face.

Well, yes, I actually do.  He's a boy that loves dirt.  I'm okay with that.

Not five minutes later the mom's little girl goes to get in the mud.  The little girl cries because she's dirty.  Mom rescues her and says, "If you hadn't seen that little boy get in the mud you would have never done that, would you?"

I get parenting is so unique and takes a different approach.  Maybe they were headed somewhere later.  Maybe the idea of mud is too much to handle.  I don't really care.  You do what works for you.

One thing that works for us is letting the Torres kids handle issues appropriate for them and getting into stuff.  We're in the business of boundaries and messy.  I mean, just look at this bunch...

 

They are wild.  They are crazy.  They are messy.  BUT, one thing they are not are pushovers. Although, life would sometimes be easier if they were pushovers when it came time to listening to their parents vs. doing what their own wills want.  Whew!  That takes a lot of shaping and work.

We have a couple more outings this week, so let's all raise our glasses to skipping out on Awkward Mommy Moments.  I'm not sure I can handle anymore drama moments this week.  We've had our fill fo' sho'!