My kids are officially "Those kids".
I'm very frustrated right now. Tonight we had an opportunity to have dinner with a bunch of friends and possibly go skating afterwards. Granted the wait for dinner was long for two 3 year olds, but their behaviour really pushed me over the limit. Between biting me on the butt (literally), hitting two friends, pushing Val over, jumping up and down, and screaming there weren't many people they hadn't offended. Yes, I know they're three. Yes, I know they have a limited attention span. No, I don't think I'm expecting too much of them, but maybe I am. What's the solution? Do I stay home and only take them to the park where screaming, jumping, and acting like little monkeys is ok? Do I continue to take them out and disrupt entire restaurants full of people? I don't know the solution, but I may have an idea.
I'm thinking we need to make a lot of dinner dates and be prepared to walk out and go home the minute they misbehave. Why dates? Because they don't seem to act like this when it's just me and Bill. So, if you would like to meet us somewhere and not have dinner with us, let me know. Who knows? Maybe they'll start behaving and we'll actually get to have dinner with you instead of leaving.
Labels: behaviour, restaurant
posted by snarfdog @ 9:07 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Oh yes, yes, yes!!! I would love to not have dinner with you. Can we not have crab legs? Can we not have dinner on Saturday. Im not free on Sunday, so we can not have dinner then. How bout Monday? Can you not be here by then? Sorry bout your problem with the angels. I hope this plan works. Love the videos!! Love you all!!
"if you would like to meet us somewhere and not have dinner with us, let me know."
ha, that made me LMAO!
sign us up, if you're not already sick of us, though really, they're good training for me and my patience too. at 1, i'm already expecting too much of val. =/
sure, the hitting wasn't good, and val was just the recipient of an excited hug from behind, but the bite on the butt...that's a new one.
hang in there, they're figuring this out too.
er, that was supposed to read "sure, the hitting wasn't good, but no one was permanently scarred." =D
sounds like a plan--the only possible hitch i can think of is if they act up every time they want to go home. (i had a friend whose kids did that...she solved it by putting them in time out/other appropriate punishment when they got home. before that it worked intially and then it turned into "tired of shopping...let's scream and we'll get taken home" lol).
so i have a question for you as a mom.
yes, there are monkey-children out and about. :)
and sometimes there's just a kid or kids behaving really well. is it inappropriate to remark on that to the kid and/or parents? i have done it before, but then i worry it's not appropriate.
here's example of one time at airplane terminal:
there was a group of gambling monkey children (seriously gambling with real money), screaming, hanging upside down on these metal bars that separated people, throwing food, stretchng cords across the floor to charge their gameboys (and then leaving them behind--we yelled after them to come get them; yeah, turns out they weren't all on our flight).
the kids were about 5-10 and there were like 4 or 5 of them.
nearby, two girls (twins I think) of probably 6 or 7 walked up with their grandpa, opened their backpacks, took out books and quiet games, leaned against their carryons and amaused themselves.
perhaps the first kids were overtired or oversugared etc. (the parents were across a few aisles and didn't seem to care much about what was happening even when the kids got other people with the food. or when they screamed "moooommmm, so and so isn't betting enough money. she won't bet (whatever they were betting)")
and so after a while i told the girls and their grandpa how beautifully behaved they were, and how nice that was. the kids both beamed as did the grandpa. but then i thought maybe it wasn't okay to do that. i am wary of being one of those people without kids who always says inappropriate stuff.
what would you think if people caught the girls being good? is it intrusive or offensive to say something like that? people tend to react okay when you say "cute baby" etc. but is behavior off limits?
i think it's totally cool to compliment kids and their adults on good behavior. it seems that the grandparent and kids appreciated it too.
I totally think it's a great idea. Reinforces the good behaviour and makes everyone feel good. Nothing wrong with that. As a parent I would completely appreciate someone noticing my kids in a positive manner.
On the flip side of that too, I'm just as likely to comment to the parents whose kids are acting like monkeys if they aren't paying attention. If they are truly trying to corral their kids, I would give them a break.
thanks for the feedback. i do NOT want to be one of those PITA people with the big mouth...lol. ;)
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