Children... the days are long...
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:42 pm
One of my favorite bloggers - see http://www.happiness-project.com/ - did a one-minute movie on the theme "The days are long, but the years are short." The Big Idea is to enjoy your children while you have them, because time flies, and to take note of the little moments.
I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment, having somehow acquired an eight-year-old when I KNOW he was just born a few days ago...
However. Some days are really, REALLY long.
This is one of them. Yesterday was the last day of school, and my husband and I allowed him to have two other friends over for a sleep-over.... this is a Big Deal and he's been looking forward to it for weeks. And he has been a TOTAL pain over little things throughout. If I hear "why CAN'T I?" whined at me one more time, I'm locking him in his room until he's twenty. (That's hyperbole for effect, for those of you who worry too fast.)
I should know better than to expect gratitude at this age... but it does annoy me to get constant whining when I've gone out of my way to be extra-nice. Each episode starts before I've recovered from the last, and my patience is GONE.
I haven't completely lost my sense of humor - I called my mom and apologized for all the times I must have done the exact thing to her, and to thank her for allowing me to grow up anyway.
And it is a good reality-check to see that all those annoying habits of your child are not unique to him. Other eight-year-olds ALSO occasionally lapse into baby-talk, leave the door open, and have to be told the same things several times before it sinks in. Some are even a bit worse.
I'll keep him. And, with luck, I'll keep my temper as well.![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment, having somehow acquired an eight-year-old when I KNOW he was just born a few days ago...
However. Some days are really, REALLY long.
This is one of them. Yesterday was the last day of school, and my husband and I allowed him to have two other friends over for a sleep-over.... this is a Big Deal and he's been looking forward to it for weeks. And he has been a TOTAL pain over little things throughout. If I hear "why CAN'T I?" whined at me one more time, I'm locking him in his room until he's twenty. (That's hyperbole for effect, for those of you who worry too fast.)
I should know better than to expect gratitude at this age... but it does annoy me to get constant whining when I've gone out of my way to be extra-nice. Each episode starts before I've recovered from the last, and my patience is GONE.
I haven't completely lost my sense of humor - I called my mom and apologized for all the times I must have done the exact thing to her, and to thank her for allowing me to grow up anyway.
And it is a good reality-check to see that all those annoying habits of your child are not unique to him. Other eight-year-olds ALSO occasionally lapse into baby-talk, leave the door open, and have to be told the same things several times before it sinks in. Some are even a bit worse.
I'll keep him. And, with luck, I'll keep my temper as well.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)