Another Note!

Another friend of mine, M, once received a note from her son claiming she was mean! Her sons loved to watch Saturday morning cartoons (back in the day when cartoons weren't on TV 24/7), but before she would allow them to do so, she made them hone their writing skills. M wasn't confident that her kids' school did an adequate job of teaching some of the basics, like writing, so she gave them assignments that they had to complete before watching TV. One of her favorite assignments was to give them pictures from magazines and have them tell a story. However, one time, one of her sons decided to write her a note telling her how unfair it was that he had to write every Saturday morning! The forced writing seems to have paid off, since they are both very good writers, and both are very good speakers (often heard on the radio!).

You Know You Are A Mean Mommy When...

...your child writes you a note telling you how "bad" you are!

This note is awesome! My friend, D, isn't even certain what prompted it! It could have been the fact that she forced her daughter to take her medicine...or maybe because she received $100.00 and plans to spend it on herself instead of buying her daughter an American Girl doll (gasp!)...could it be because D won't let her daughter paint her own bedroom? Or maybe because she nixes her kiddo's pranks...? Who knows? Keep up the good work! Mean Mommies rock!

I love featuring other Mean Mommies on my blog. If your child thinks you are unreasonable, please let me know. If you feel that you turned out OK because of your own Mean Mommy, I'd like to hear about that, too.

Food For Thought

A good solution is to make the kids do the cleaning...just sayin'.

Owwww...Oh

Owww! The kiddo got too close to  my hand and bumped her eye against it! Seriously, that is what happened, although she will tell you that I poked her. It was one of those boo boos that barely hurts until the "victim" gets a little attention, then the boo boo suddenly becomes severe and the fake crying starts. The fake crying and whimpering for attention are so annoying, because they are so fake. But, if the kiddo is complaining about something hurting her, I guess I need to take her seriously.

I asked her if it really hurt, and she said "yes". I replied, "Hmm, maybe we should go see Doctor B. He might have a shot and some medicine that will make it feel better. The kiddo suddenly stopped whining and told me that she felt better. Great, I said, but I asked her to please let me know if it started hurting again, so that I could call the doctor's office and get her in. Just in case she needed the shot. She didn't mention it again.

Meeean Mommies

I am so sad and disappointed to find out that an incident (or series of incidents) involved friends of mine. Without giving too much away, one friend of mine attended an event where there were several other friends of mine in attendance. The individual friend does not know the other friends, but they all know each other. They are, in fact, a little clique. Individual Friend lamented how le Clique made a huge display of their love for one another, but couldn't even give her the time of day. Individual Friend, a rational, educated professional, was able to analyze the group's actions and attitudes in an impersonal way, but personally, the exclusion stung, since the event was supposed to be a happy, social activity. For me, personally, I am shocked, since, one-on-one, the members of le Clique are some of the nicest, warmest, friendliest, most outgoing women I know. What is it about the group mentality that turns some women into, um, not-so-nice-people?

What's worse is that there were kids in attendance; what kind of message does that behavior send? "Oh, I love you and your child and you and your child and you and your child, but I can't even acknowledge anybody else". Nice. And no doubt, those mommies will be shocked when they hear that their children are excluding and bullying other kids at school.

Beep Beeeep

The post-holiday mall situation is nearly as bad as the many weekends leading up to the holiday season--too many people, too few parking spaces, too long of a wait...However, rude, inconsiderate people make it worse. Trust me, I don't want to go to the mall when there are crowds; I'm not interested in clearance prices as much as I'm interested in saving my sanity. But, since hubby's gift didn't fit, I ventured out. I was really irritated to find a car that was parked in between two parking spaces*, forcing me to park waaay down at the end of the row. I don't mind walking, and I tend to get annoyed at people who drive around and around waiting for a parking place near the door, but hogging two spaces is one of those things that makes me mad. So, before I got out of my car, I wrote a note: "Seriously, you need two parking spaces?". The kiddo was with me, so I explained to her what the person had done, why it bothered me, and why I felt the need to leave the note (uh, so the jerk doesn't do it again!).

*I understand that handicapped people who use wheelchairs need extra room to get out of their vehicle into the wheelchairs. This car did not have a tag or plate that indicated such a need, and it was not a handicapped-designated space. It was a compact car that could easily fit in a single space...if the driver weren't a bonehead.

Two Out of Three...

Aha! This explains it! I have been trying to have all three, which is impossible. No wonder I get so frustrated...