For example, I was NEVER going to let my boy play with guns. Yeah, that lasted until Z was 2. He chewed his POP-TART in the shape of a gun and started to shoot anything and everything. Our home has never been the same.
Also, I was NEVER going to be the mom in the Wal-Marts with the loud obnoxious kids. Heaven forbid. That misconception didn't last very long into my mothering career. I have become the women at the local Wal-Marts that I brutally judged in my prekid days. The funny thing is, I see the same look on the premothers that I had on my face 7+ years ago. Except now they are looking at ME. I laugh at how much they have to learn about parenting.
I was NEVER going to allow my children to leave the table without trying all the perfectly planned and cooked food that I worked hard to prepare for them. I was also going to cook EVERY night. Yeah, right. I think we all know how that one turns out.
My children were NEVER going to drink soda, pick their noses, eat too much candy, have cavities, watch too much TV, sleep in my bed, whine, wear dirty clothes. Basically have imperfections of any kind.
I was a dreamer.
Time and time again, reality hits. And it hits hard. It hit me yesterday when I let Lou order a Diet Coke with her McNugget Happy Meal. A DIET COKE, people. She's 4 and NOT. ON. A. DIET.
Then today, I sent Z to school with a lunch box that I lovingly packed. The contents of the lovingly packed lunch box: Cinnamon and Brown Sugar POP-TART, Doritos and Oreos.
Pop Tarts. Doritos. Oreos.
**GASP**
The only thing I prayed for today was that he wouldn't eat his POP TART in the shape of a gun and start shooting. That would have been an awkward conversation with the principal. And I hope to NEVER have awkward conversations with the principal.
Time will tell...
I would love to hear your own "I NEVER" moments. Don't worry. There is no judgement here. This is a safe place to share!
15 comments:
I said I'd never yell. I thought that would be easy, because I don't lose my temper easily (or at least I didn't pre-kid).
I also told myself when I was younger that I'd never tell my children, "Because I said so". As an adult, I've found it's a perfectly good reason for my daughter to obey... although I'm sure it frustrates her as much as it did me. I try to give her explanations most of the time, but there are occasions when obedience, rather than the task itself, is the point.
Great post! Obviously the TV and eating habits are my big downfalls. But I feel horrible for assuming all those years that those kids who hit and screamed at the mall and at restaurants were obviously not disciplined appropriately!
I'd never yell.
I'd never put my child on a leash.
I'd never give in when my child threw a fit.
I'd never let my kids look grungy.
I'd never use benadryl to help me child sleep.
I'd never lose track of my child.
I'd never let us eat fast food more than once a week.
I'd never Never NEVER let my daughter go without panties :)
Great post Janelle! I had a lady once tell me that her children NEVER had a melt down in public. That her children weren't ALLOWED to do that. That just one time with one of her four children, one of them TRIED to have a melt down, and she IMMEADIETLY squelched it with a spanking.
I want to know what kind of meds she's on!
I would NEVER take my children to fast food. We now stop by McDonald's once a week for chicken nuggets. Sometimes twice!
I would never let my child watch ANY television before two, and just 30 minutes a day after that. Ha ha ha ha ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. It's a source of guilt, but it is what it is. We are very very familiar with every episode of Sesame Street, Super Why, and Word World. And Nicholas knows all his letters, their sounds, numbers, and shapes, and I think Sesame Street has helped with that. So there!
I would ALWAYS dress my child in nice, coordinated outfits with neatly combed hair. Now I'm happy if his shirt is clean and his socks match. Each other, not the shirt. As long as his face is sorta clean and his teeth have been brushed sometime during the day I don't care about his hair being a big mess. Which it almost always is. I didn't know my child would have so much hair!
My child would NEVER use a pacifier. He's almost two and he still loves his "gigi!"
Probably the biggest thing is that I expected to be a strict parent and have discovered that I'm super laid back. If Nicholas has a mini melt down at the grocery store I don't immediately leave the store to teach him not to have a tantrum, as I planned. I just think, "Oh well, he's two..." and keep shopping. He's bored, he's tired, he's two, and he's expressing how he feels. No big deal. Interestingly, he doesn't have that many meltdowns and they're pretty low in intensity and very short lived, so maybe the relaxed approach is better than my super-strict pre-mama plan! I'm raising a human being, not a robot!
I will never spent too much time in front of the computer while my baby plays alone in the other room.
Hummm....
Is it sad that I don't remember all of the things I said I'd never do...because I gave up on them so long ago?
Still, let's see...
soda, candy, and tv, definitely, those are the big ones...
I'm kinda with Alana, I am sure there are more but it has been so long I don't remember them.
Family Bed...it was so nice while it lasted. 3 years JP, AJ won't sleep with us :(
Video games....i type this as JP is currently rockin out in the living room to guitar hero. But really iit is not so much a video game but a hand eye coordination and eye tracking developer, right?
Dawn's comment hit me right between the eyes. Ouch! Thanks for this post that we can ALL relate to. I bet all the other kids thought you were the COOLEST mom when your son got out his lunch. :o)
What a great post! And by the way, feel free to pack MY lunch every day. Yum!
I think mine involved yelling. And never putting them to bed without a story first. Letting them go out in public with yucky stuff on their clothes. Stuff like that. All figments of my pre-mother imaginiation. :)
By the way, I reallllly appreciate you going first on the whole #3 thing. I'm counting on you to blaze me a trail. :)
I thought I would never want time away from my precious babies. I never realized how important it is to my sanity.
Oh, you are SO right! I vowed never to let my kids act out of control at Walmart...now I understand. I vowed never to let my kids leave the home without their hair combed...now I understand. I vowed never to let my kids watch that dumb "Barney" show...now I understand. So, there you have it, my motherly understandings now that I have kids. Loved this post!
I'd never let my child get to be "that old" and not be potty trained.
That one has kicked my toosh to the moon and back again.
And, I wouldn't mind middle of the night feedings because "I will love my baby so much that I won't mind getting up." RIIIIIIIIIIGHT!
Happy Blogoversary, friend! Today is yours as well, you know!
I've had THE MOST FUN doing this with you!
Love ya!
Very funny post - you're a great writer!
I was never going to let my kids sleep with us... until I was pregnant with a 18 month old who insisted... as long as we all sleep right... :) Thanks for the great post!
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