In my excitement about my fancy new Advocate blog, I of course told all my friends and family to check it out. They were kind and supportive as always, but my sister had the best comment:
“Why are you yelling at little kids? That’s so not what you’re about.”
It made me happy to hear that, especially since I’ve recently (well, always, but again recently) found myself in hot water over comments I’ve made regarding how we view our children in this day and age of Perfect Parenting.
Somehow people interpret me as a meanie – that I’m tough and awful to kids. When in fact I’m really the biggest softie you could find.
However. When it comes to behavior I don’t suffer fools gladly (I’ve just been dying to say that). I know and expect that 2-year-old children can use “Please” and “Thank you,” learn to take turns, know that it’s not right to hit each other, and be able to say “I’m sorry” after a fight.
I also expect them to know that it’s not OK to stack up chairs and climb on shelves. Which 2-year-olds will do, in case you’ve never seen it. They can be very clever, our little ones. Don’t let them fool you.
So every now and then I do ask something of a child that they might not want to do. It doesn’t mean they can’t do it. That’s called teaching, not being a big old meanie.
