Ahh the playdate. Specifically the playdates that my 3 boys have with my BFF Beth's 3 boys. For a grand total of 6 boys. That is a lot of boys. Plus now we've each added a puppy to our broods. So 6 boys plus 2 puppies.
Our boys are pretty close in ages - mine are 10, 8 and 3. Hers are 9, 7 and 3. Whenever we have playtime after school, we fantasize that the kids will all play peacefully downstairs while we moms quietly sip a glass of wine watching Oprah. Though we are now resigning ourselves to the fact that getting our boys together means that neither of us will get to complete a sentence, the wine will be guzzled and we will be lucky to catch Oprah's ending credits.
Case in point, today. Beth made cookies for an after school snack. Beth's boy #3 (BB#3) walked around the kitchen with his 2 cookies on a plate that slid off so my dog ate them, sharing them with Beth's dog. Then my dog grabbed my boy #2's (DB#2) cookie off the table because he didn't sit down fast enough. The dogs then romped around the kitchen for a while all sugared up. Then DB#3 had some bathroom time but forgot to point his thingy downwards so his shirt, pants, socks and undies were soaked, along with the bathroom floor. Then Beth's puppy tinkled all over her bed in the kitchen. Then they all wanted to go outside which meant suiting up in snow pants. Add to that the noise of 6 boys and 2 dogs, and well you get the picture. We didn't even get the chance to turn on Oprah. Forget the wine. We were together for 55 minutes.
Last summer we came to a rather sad conclusion. It appears that whenever we all show up at our local playground, all the other kids seem to disappear. We must look pretty scary, invading the playground with the normal wild screams of boys on the loose. But sure enough, we noticed a trend.
Beth summed it up well though. "Hey," she whispered, "let's head over to the playground in the next township. No one knows us over there."
Next summer we might not be so lucky. Our reputations - and noise - may precede us.
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
If you haven't got anything nice to say...
I check my Yahoo! news page first thing in the morning to see what is going on in the world. Plus sometimes there are odd "human interest" stories that provide a break from the normal doom and gloom of the news.
Lately I've started reading the comments on some of the stories.
And I think I'm going to stop reading those comments.
I can't believe the rampant rudeness! It seems the anonymity of the internet has given free licence to people to say what ever they want. No matter how uncivilized, childish, mean spirited and insulting their comments may be. Whether it be a political, social, current events news item or just an interesting story, people are writing horrible things.
Recently I read a tragic story about a family in Canada that was killed in a car accident.
Random comment: Who cares? They are Canadians.
Stories about bullying, people dying in fires, horrible illnesses...the hurtful messages that people leave astound me. There seems to be no compassion. I really don't understand why, when the subject of the story has faced unspeakable tragedy, comments have to add even more hurt and hate.
As a parent, one of my jobs is to teach my children respect for their fellow human beings. And kindness. And compassion. And understanding. And tolerance. And that job gets harder and harder every day because we are surrounded by hatred and intolerance.
There has been a lot of talk about this in politics recently. And it doesn't matter what side of the political aisle you are on - it comes from both sides. How can I teach my children respect and kindness when our politicians and national commentators are calling each other Hitler, putting gun sights on their opponents and telling their supporters to reload? How can we ever expect to raise children into decent adults when our leaders can not themselves set a good example?
The recent horrific events in Arizona have certainly given us pause as a nation. However, I fear that this will be short lived. Our memories do not seem to last very long. Attention moves on to the likes of the Jersey Shore - where not much is said in kindness (or sobriety) either.
We teach our children that if you haven't got anything nice to say, then don't say anything. Imagine if our media, politicians and commenters followed that ancient rule of being nice. The world would be a much quieter place.
Lately I've started reading the comments on some of the stories.
And I think I'm going to stop reading those comments.
I can't believe the rampant rudeness! It seems the anonymity of the internet has given free licence to people to say what ever they want. No matter how uncivilized, childish, mean spirited and insulting their comments may be. Whether it be a political, social, current events news item or just an interesting story, people are writing horrible things.
Recently I read a tragic story about a family in Canada that was killed in a car accident.
Random comment: Who cares? They are Canadians.
Stories about bullying, people dying in fires, horrible illnesses...the hurtful messages that people leave astound me. There seems to be no compassion. I really don't understand why, when the subject of the story has faced unspeakable tragedy, comments have to add even more hurt and hate.
As a parent, one of my jobs is to teach my children respect for their fellow human beings. And kindness. And compassion. And understanding. And tolerance. And that job gets harder and harder every day because we are surrounded by hatred and intolerance.
There has been a lot of talk about this in politics recently. And it doesn't matter what side of the political aisle you are on - it comes from both sides. How can I teach my children respect and kindness when our politicians and national commentators are calling each other Hitler, putting gun sights on their opponents and telling their supporters to reload? How can we ever expect to raise children into decent adults when our leaders can not themselves set a good example?
The recent horrific events in Arizona have certainly given us pause as a nation. However, I fear that this will be short lived. Our memories do not seem to last very long. Attention moves on to the likes of the Jersey Shore - where not much is said in kindness (or sobriety) either.
We teach our children that if you haven't got anything nice to say, then don't say anything. Imagine if our media, politicians and commenters followed that ancient rule of being nice. The world would be a much quieter place.
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