Does it still take a village to raise a child?

I think it does.

There have been a million and one times when I could have used an extra set of hands, or another voice of encouragement (maybe even a loud one), to help me corral my brood in a public place. It's not that they're always acting up either. One such example would be a few months back, when I went into Boston Store to stop by the Origins counter. I only had one thing to pick up, no shopping there or anything. I had The Little Man with me, and it was mid afternoon, so he was rambunctious (imagine that!). I had pulled out my credit card, and no sooner had I handed it over to the lady, when the kid is climbing out of his stroller and running away at full speed.

Now, I can barely walk most days, and I NEVER run because I simply can't. What The Little Man did here, was my worst nightmare! So I'm snatching my card and receipt from the saleswoman, who's finding it all sickly amusing, grab the bag and my stroller, and start off as fast as I possibly can after him. He's repeatedly looking behind him, to see if I'm still following him and how much space is between us, laughing yet still running away. I pass NO LESS than 8 adults in my chase, most of whom are employed there. They all witness a woman in tears, dragging an empty stroller, as she desperately tries to gimp along at a half-run pace whilst calling to her child, who's clearly outrunning her. If you were there, what would you do?

By the time I'm getting close to catching up to him, the only thing slowing him down is the double doors that lead out to the parking lot! There's an elderly saleswoman nearby, whom he's already run directly past, who makes the mistake of saying to me, "You had better catch that child before he runs into the street and gets run over by a car!" I blew a gasket at this point. I yelled, in her general direction (because I was busy running after someone), "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING?! MIGHT HAVE BEEN NICE IF YOU'D HAVE HELPED ME OUT HERE!" She had the nerve to be offended.... ha. She's lucky that's all I said, AND she's extra lucky that I didn't gather myself and my child and double back to give her an additional piece of my mind, AND find her manager to let them know what a bang-up job she was doing in customer service that day. ;)

Even after all that, I didn't bawl The Little Man out. After all, he's too young to understand that Mommy can't run after him because her back's no good. He was just having a good time! If he was with Daddy, it would have been fine, and many times, it has been OK for him to run ahead a bit. He hates having to sit in a stroller because Mommy can't manage him otherwise on some days, which is how this got started in the first place. It's not his fault, and it's not mine either- I do what I have to, to keep him safe and still accomplish things. On this particular day, things just went a bit haywire. :( If anyone with common sense would have taken a look at this situation, they'd have headed him off and stopped him, or at least slowed him down a bit, in order for me to catch up with him. Old Lady Rude certainly had no concept....she wasn't helping at all here. I'm sure she and her other elderly cohort there had a heyday, gossipping about what an awful parent I was to let my kid run around like that or some other foolishness. LMAO!

I came across www.onekindword.org, and I thought that a number of Boston Store patrons and employees might have benefited from its mission on this particular day. My child, luckily, didn't suffer any ill-effects from his little jaunt (and possibly worked out some energy), but had he have made it out the second double door, I don't even want to think about what might have happened. He was already through the first when I finally caught him. I freak out inside just thinking about it right now. My heart's no good for close calls anymore! :O

Can we? Can we? Huh? HUH? HUH?!

My children have found a new thing to beg for in their lives, as if there weren't enough before. They now beg, pretty much daily, to be taken to the West YMCA.


Honestly, this is a whine I can live with! It's a healthy thing to beg for, a family event that we can all enjoy in various ways. Here's how...

The DIVA wants to go so she can work out in the Lifestyles Center- running on the treadmill, using the stair climber, lifting weights, whatever- so that she can be in shape for cheerleading at the high school this fall. I also think she's trying to check out guys up there, as well as be checked out herself now. I'm no idiot, you know. ;)

The Big Man loves to go into the Youth Zone. He's discovered (after an hour of arguing about how dumb and stupid and lame it was) that they have a Wii in there, which has Dance Dance Revolution on it (a game we do not own). I'm happy as hell that he's latched onto that because he could really use the exercise, and I'm considering investing in the thing for the house now. They have snacks in there, help with homework, arts & crafts, readings, "hanging out"...oh, and video games.

The Little Man has found that he can do a plethora of activities in this large building! He can go play with other kids in the nursery, where they have TONS of new toys that he doesn't have at his house. He can go to preschool there too, which is one of his favorite things to do! He's mad right now because he can't go to "real" school, meaning the regular preschool classes, because he's not completely potty-trained just yet (not for lack of trying, just laziness on his part- LOL!). He can go to the gym and play basketball, and on certain nights, they have blow-up things to play on too. His greatest joy these days is to play fishy in the pool, and he's getting much better at doggie-paddling a foot or two away from Mommy. One of these days, he might even let her let go of him!

OH! I almost forgot! Mommy likes to go to the Y too! :)

I joined a Yoga for Bigger Bodies class. I picked this one because I have a serious back condition, and this class description said that it was a modified class for varied abilities. I thought that might be more helpful to me, since I really do need to get the stretching in but can't go full-out in a regular yoga class. I'm having a great time in there, and it's a great class with a great group of women. I make the night of my class "Mommy Night," and no one goes with me that night. It's a very relaxing evening, and I don't feel stressed or rushed at all because I don't have to drag anyone in or out of the house or van or building or van or house or....you get the idea. ;)

I am PROUD to be Generation X!

Luckily, I do not fall into THIS category of Gen X'ers, who are a total bunch of fools.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30585984/

It absolutely sickens me to see parents who coddle their infants into this sad form of toddler narcissism, which can only be blamed on their parents. When those poor kids arrive in kindergarten and join a school environment, that behavior often gets labeled as hyperactivity, ADD, ADHD, ODD, or any number of mental health disorders, when really it all boils down to awful parenting from the get-go. It's all downhill from there. :(

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it can be turned around, but it is up to those same parents who caused the issue to take back the reigns and FIX IT FOR THEMSELVES! Have you even heard the phrase, "You made your bed, now lie in it"? I think that applies here. Of course, the real problem lies in getting the parents to realize that a problem even exists in the first place.

True story....

I am the mom who said to the vice-principal at one of my children schools last Friday (I'll withhold the name to protect the guilty!), "Go ahead and suspend _____ if you have to! If the behavior has warranted that punishment, I have no problem with that. It is high time that ______ learned that it's not going to be tolerated by YOU or by ME. If it affects _____'s permanent record, so be it. This is the fourth time in less than 10 days that we're having this conversation." The sad thing is, that I actually had to say this to the guy! (And no, this particular child did not end up suspended after all.)

I think this sort of parenting has molded our school system to fear these parents, as they're calling teachers and administrators, complaining that little Johnny or Janie isn't succeeding in school....HEY! Wake up, idiot! It's probably because your kid isn't applying themselves, not because the teachers not doing their job right! God forbid your kid get a bad grade on a test- why should the teacher give them a chance to do it over again?! Does your boss give you a chance for a do-over on a big presentation for a client?! Um, no. Maybe, instead of you handing them a wad of cash (because they sure didn't have to earn it by doing chores or anything constructive! *gasp*) and dropping your 11-yr-old off at the mall with his/her friends (why would a kid that young need to go there alone anyway?!), they could have got some studying done, actually learned the chapters and maybe even *GASP* ACED that test?!?!?! We are supposed to be prepping these kids for adulthood here. That's what human parents do. We're not raising our kids like wolves in the woods, where it really doesn't matter how one treats the others and survival of the fittest is the name of the game.

On the other hand, I am also the parent who, at the other child's school, has repeatedly gone to bat with that administration over their SERIOUSLY lax policies on bullying. I will wear out my tap-dancing shoes when it comes to protecting my children from something of which they are the victim. I will go to hell and back to be sure they are safe and secure. God help the other person who's on the other side of that coin, going up against Momma Bear, protecting her cubs! LOL I will not allow someone or something to hurt them in any way, if I can help it. I find it impossible to see how parents cannot delineate the difference between what behaviors belong to their children and that put them in a negative situation, and those that are created by others and leave them in a negative situation.

Maybe I just paid closer attention to my parenting manual...you know, the one they gave all of us when we left the hospital with our babies?