Holidays
Today is the beginning of two weeks of holiday for Dutch and Skipper. Dutch is really, really excited. I'm excited to not have to deal with drop-off/pick-up for two weeks (the kids have a babysitter three days and are going to The Blonds' house* for one day so I can keep up my normal work schedule).
Given how well I"m parenting my kids lately, I think I'm going to need to schedule some (or many) playdates, to save on future therapy bills. Both kids have been pushing my buttons frequently and enthusiastically lately. Skipper is much more defiant than Dutch ever was, and she seems to be deeply invested in pissing me off, probably at least in part as a way to gain my attention. This morning one of the very first things I said to Skipper was "I don't want to be with you. You're awful." I'm pretty sure this isn't the worst thing anybody's ever said to their child, but it violated even my not-very-rigorous parenting code.**
So we've got to line up a bunch of activities this week. We're kicking off the week with a dentist appointment for Dutch, so that will set the entertainment bar nice and low.
*The Blonds are the family I've mentioned before who live a few blocks away - two parents, one first-grade boy, two 3-year-old girls - they're all tall and thin and blond and bike-y. We swap childcare and hand-me-down clothing, and it's pretty great. This is O Blond in the photo below, doing chemistry with Dutch.
** One pillar of my code is to try to differentiate the kid from the behavior, so it would have been (more) acceptable for me to say something like "The way you're behaving right now is making me feel really bad, and I don't want to be with you when you're acting that way."
Given how well I"m parenting my kids lately, I think I'm going to need to schedule some (or many) playdates, to save on future therapy bills. Both kids have been pushing my buttons frequently and enthusiastically lately. Skipper is much more defiant than Dutch ever was, and she seems to be deeply invested in pissing me off, probably at least in part as a way to gain my attention. This morning one of the very first things I said to Skipper was "I don't want to be with you. You're awful." I'm pretty sure this isn't the worst thing anybody's ever said to their child, but it violated even my not-very-rigorous parenting code.**
So we've got to line up a bunch of activities this week. We're kicking off the week with a dentist appointment for Dutch, so that will set the entertainment bar nice and low.
*The Blonds are the family I've mentioned before who live a few blocks away - two parents, one first-grade boy, two 3-year-old girls - they're all tall and thin and blond and bike-y. We swap childcare and hand-me-down clothing, and it's pretty great. This is O Blond in the photo below, doing chemistry with Dutch.
** One pillar of my code is to try to differentiate the kid from the behavior, so it would have been (more) acceptable for me to say something like "The way you're behaving right now is making me feel really bad, and I don't want to be with you when you're acting that way."
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