Assailant: Porter
Scene of Crime: Post Office
Charges: Throwing larger-than-life tantrum in the 15 minutes we waited in line. Complete with smacking Mommy in the face, pulling her hair, kicking, and screaming for 14.5 minutes straight.
Witnesses: About 10-15 fellow townspeople. Not available for questioning . . . but we can all guess what they were thinking.
You can't? Oh, well here are a few examples:
"What is wrong with that mom? Why can't she control her kid?"
"That lady needs to learn how to give a spanking/timeout/(fill in your own punishment here). I bet she's never disciplined him a day in his life."
"What did she do to make that kid behave so badly."
"She must spoil him."
"I saw him holding her iPhone when they walked in, she's exposing him to technology at too young an age."
"I hope she's not hiding a pregnant belly under that winter coat- she definitely can't handle 2 of those."
As soon as we got out to the car, Porter got a prompt timeout (nope, I'm not a spanker). Porter then cried the whole way home and I shed a few tears myself as I tried to figure out where I went wrong in my parenting philosophy. When I got home, I pulled out my parenting books and read chapters about countless other parents who went through similar situations with young children. And some of them are even qualified to write parenting books now. So I can't be too terrible . . . right?
Last night, as Porter and I sang songs together while we baked and ate cookies, I found myself wishing all those people at the post office could have seen this moment instead.
But I suppose parenting will have its ups and downs. And unfortunately, the downs are probably bound to be witnessed by a room full of strangers more often than not.
4 comments:
Oh friend. Prepare yourself. This will happen a LOT. Probably until he's four. I cannot tell you how many times this has happened to me. Literally I can't count them...and three is much much worse than two (the age, I mean). Just wait until you have a screaming infant and Porter is doing this. It's going to be awesome. :)
Also, I'll tell you what I think when I see this happen: 1) that poor, poor mama and 2) thank goodness that's not me. Read this http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glennon-melton/dont-carpe-diem_b_1206346.html . It will help you realize everybody goes through it and you're not alone (and when you get older you can say to some poor young mom, "Carry on, warrior." 'Cause I know I will).
Dana, Dana, have you met our kids? Carter started terrible two's when he turned one! And when I have the wonderful chance to run errands without kids and see another mom in a similar situation as what you described, I agree with Emily, I'm just glad it's not me!
Love you guys!
Oh Dana, I'm sorry! I had a very similar situation in Costco the other day and mine is only 1 1/2. I thought since my students were so well behaved my children would be too. I loved the part about the iphone because I do that too and then I feel like a terrible mom. Hang in there! You are not alone.
Dana, it may have been the first, but it won't be the last. Even the most well behaved kids have their moments. Breath easy, you are doing a great job.
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