That'll Take You Down A Peg Or Two, By Golly

Earlier today, in an attempt to be one of those go-getter mamas, the boys and I made the (short) hike to the park for some sun and interaction with the rest of humanity. Those of you who stay at home with your kids, you know exactly what I mean. Picture those last ten minutes of The Shining: Jack Nicholson, crazy hair, a severe personality disorder. You get it. See, lately, there's been this overwhelming feeling of "something has to change," like I want to take some real steps to improving the little things around here. The boys are getting old enough to join in the fun, and you can only go to the mall so many times before you're like "ok seriously, there is MORE TO LIFE than hanging out in the play area waiting for them to finish so I can cauterize the Ebola virus off their hands before we go get lunch." Ahem.

Sooooo......where was I....oh yes, the park. So the last few days have been looking up: I feel on top of my parenting game, I'm making long-term plans for family time and have felt pretty good about doling out appropriate discipline for Mr. Super Tantrum, our two and a half year old who's been reacting to "No," and "We need to wait in line," and "Please do not spit in your brother's hair" with not as much enthusiasm as I'd like. He's actually a great kid and very empathetic to others, but I think that sensitivity makes it difficult to weather the storms of toddlerhood. Thinking back to my own childhood where I apparently spent more time reading encyclopedias and painting sad clowns than, oh, making friends, I imagine he picked that up from me.

Anyway, we're playing at the park, and I'm in the middle of chatting up the mother of a boy that my big guy was playing with about this very topic (she had asked how old he was as he's tall for his age, and knowing now what was about to happen I can see where she was going with that). Naturally, as the gods of comedy would have it, I'm saying something about how he's very good at listening as a result of how we "have consequences in our house....oh no, I'm not one of those 'give a lot of warnings' type of mother....no, we don't allow that kind of behavior....blahblah" which she probably didn't hear as she was busy trying to shuffle her kid away from the hail of wood chips being pelted at his face by (like I have to say it) my own well-behaved snowflake. It took a second for me to realize she had been watching this happen for several minutes, probably as long as it took for me to get to the top of my big ol' soapbox and chatter away, and I was now that mom that gets the dirty looks for not disciplining her kid. Greeeeeeat.

Well, another learning experience under my belt. I guess that whole "overconfidence" thing works itself out, which is exactly the great thing about having kids. You never get completely delusional about your own sense of self-worth because it's challenged every five minutes by small people wearing dinosaur shirts. And hey, humility is a great lesson. I'll be sure to keep it in mind next time we make it out to the park (although the mall sounds a little better now...no wood chips as far as the eye can see......)