The Fruits of my Labor

I feel like I work very hard to be a good mother to my children. To provide them with a fun and worry free childhood. Soon enough, they will be adults and be faced with worry, heartache, and stress. They do not need that at the ages of 4 & 7, in my opinion. I try very hard to build good character in them. To develop their manners. To develop their compassion, creativity, thoughtfulness, respectfulness, etc.

And it irks me to no end when I run across little rugrats who need more guidance from their parents! LOL!

This morning my mom (who is keeping my niece and nephew for the summer while my sister is at school) and my other sister (and her three kids) met at a local park to play before heading over for a special presentation at the library. When we arrived the park was overtaken by a local daycare. Most of the kids weren't playing. They were camped out sitting on the equipment just chatting with their friends. The blocked the stairs, the tunnels, and the entrance to the slides. Our kids were TRYING to play. They were stepping around and over these children and getting along okay, but not great until Jake attempted to go down a tunnel slide. He approached the slide and these 2 girls were blocking the way and wouldn't move. So, he climbed over them and went down the slide. What he didn't realize was that a boy (oh about 10 or 11 years old) was climbing up the slide the wrong way to get to his friends, so he too could chit chat. Well, Jake nailed him on the way down and the boy started yelling at him.

Then Momma Bear stepped in and very directly but politely told the boy and his friends that the slide and the rest of the equipment were for PLAYING on, not camping out on and that furthermore, he was going up the slide the WRONG direction and that my son has every right to go down the slide and they need to move out of the way. Oh and btw, do NOT ever yell at my son again! Jake, feeling like he did something wrong was stuck in the tunnel slide not wanting to come out to be right in the middle of my conversation with this turkey and not wanting to go back up because he was faced with the two camped out girls. I then stomped over to the adults in charge and told them that their children were blocking everything, not letting my children through and yelling at them. They then shooed their children over to a shaded area to sit and chit chat.

Whew. We were free to play. Then, one of the male supervisors starts VOMITING all over the playground. UGH. BLECH.

We were SO OUTTA THERE.

So, hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the library we go. We listened to this storyteller who was good but didn't really keep anyone's attention except Lydia's. Then, we went to Jason's Deli for lunch to discover that Jake CAN have their icecream. Oh, happy day! By then, my almost 8 year old niece is being sassy and obstinent to my sister who also has a crazy, out of control, 2 year old and a 6 month old. My mom is exhausted b/c she is not used to shuttling a 2 and 4 year old all around town. My sister is about to scream b/c my almost 8 year old niece is sassing her about getting her way, her 2 year old daughter is running off, and her 6 month old is spitting up all over the empty table next to us. At least it wasn't another patron's head, right?

This is the part where I realize the fruits of my labor.

My children were obedient, respectful and a joy throughout this cluster of a morning. Even when their older cousin was sassing her mother. My youngest sister, mom and I have always said that my middle sister needed to get a handle on that but she has let it go for years and years. And now, when she has 2 itty bitty ones her almost 8 year old should be a HELPER not extra baggage. She should make my sister's life easier but my sister can barely leave the house with all three b/c this child so is NOT a helper. She makes my sister's life harder than it needs to be by arguing, back-talking, sassing, and insisting on getting her way a lot. It is a shame. Accidental parenting. I guess that is where it gets ya. Not that any child is always perfect. Of course not. But, there just isn't any excuse for this chronic problem in my opinion.

Oh well.

Am I bragging? Sure. It's my blog. I can brag if I want to. :)