934LikesMe too!Originally Posted by gabriel;2815610;
ooh I thought I was the only one that discreetly stuck my foot out there!!I wonder if there are more of us . . .
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I always like to yell, "Ouch, my foot!" after they go ker-splatt on the floor!Let's face it....this is war!!!
If we ever have a child, I'll be one of those middleaged women with a baby/toddler. I want to exact revenge on all my friends who let their kids go wild at my house and didn't think it was a big deal when their precious angels broke my TV or dishes or drew on my walls/sofa/table or what not.
Nah, because I know what it was like to be on the other end, I fully expect that we will be hiring a babysitter on the occasions that we are invited out. (Not that any of my friends reciprocate, apparently!
Now I dont' feel so bad for having done this in the past. I thought I was the only one, but apparantly not.Me too!I like what prhoshay yells. I will have to do that. "Ow, my foot!"
I recently yelled at a child in Walmart because he was running, being a nuisance, ran into me, the displays, etc. His mom was on her cell phone the ENTIRE time. I got right in his face and said: BEHAVE YOURSELF!!!! in my meanest voice. He ran back to his mom and stayed there eyeing me.
I've gotten to where I don't hesitate to say something to children in public and if their parents say anything to me about it, I give them a thing or two myself.
And let me just add that while my child was FAR from perfect, I could take her places and she behaved and if she didn't, I was on it like white on rice. I didn't ignore it. And I used to get compliments from people about how well behaved she was. I just didn't put up with it from my child, so why should I have to put up with it from those I didn't give birth too????
Should we form a club, elect officers, write bylaws, etc?I think there might be just a few more
The Bad Kid Trippers Club
You know, it really isn't hard to make children mind. But it does take some effort and it does need to be consistant. I have watched so many of my friends just ignore their children. The same children who when I keep them are angels, but the min. their mother walks in turn into hellions.
And you don't have to be mean or hit a kid to make it mind either.
I put a LOT of effort into my daughter, because as her parent, I knew that is what I had to do. It was my job to teach her to behave, respect others, etc., because as her parent, I have the responsibility to train her to be a caring, responsible adult when she is unleashed on the world at 18. And kids crave discipline. I know that sounds weird, but they do.
I also don't say no 10 times either. I say no and I mean no the first time. I have also heard parents say no, no, no, no, no and not mean it until the 10th time and the kids know this. The same applies to animal training. If the dog knows you don't mean it until its been said repeatedly, they don't respond until the command has been given repeatedly.
Looks like I missed quite an interesting discussion about socializing and children. I too am at the age where I don't want children tagging along on my grown-up play dates. My son is 21 and I'm past all that stuff now.
I have a couple of new friends who have young children and usually they have sitters when we do our lunches but every so often they say they will either have to bring them or cancel. It's hard because I don't want to say "okay, let's cancel and do it another time" as that in a way punishes me too since I don't get out too often with friends and want the company. The children are well behaved but it's hard to talk about any topic you think of without worrying about censoring yourself. I don't want to do that anymore. I look forward to these lunch dates and I want it to be relaxing and not worrying about what I say or what the kids might be getting into.
I do want to offer a different perspective on the reciprocity dinner thing. Not that this will apply in all situations where someone doesn't reciprocate, but in my case, all of my friends have much nicer homes than me (in my mind). We have a lot of little ugly unfinished work projects and unfortunately I have the type of husband who starts something and doesn't finish it. He just doesn't care if it gets done or not. I'm not going to hire anyone for the things that need to be finished because they are ridiculously simple, but not things I want or can do myself.
So there may be one or two friends you have who are embarrassed by their house for whatever reason. I know what some of you will say, friends don't care about stuff like that and would not judge you and just want your company (and someone else to cook the meal for a change). However, for the person on the end who doesn't feel comfortable with people being entertained in their "ugly" home, there's just no reasoning with us.
Another perspective is maybe the other half of the couple is not as social as the other. My husband is not a social person. He doesn't care to entertain nor really to go to other people's homes. If I drag him somewhere, that is a rare instance and he's not going to want to get into a back and forth exchange of dinner parties. I know, I'm married to a real peach of a guy. But still, maybe that is a reason for lack of invites too. Maybe the other spouse/significant other is just socially challenged. There are one or two couples who he does like to socialize with but due to schedules, it's not too often we get together.
Which brings me back to the children topic. Since I don't socialize as couples too often, I've learned to have fun with just the women and go out to lunch or shopping. And so that means, don't bring the husband, and don't bring the kids!
I am a scrapbooker and used to go to scrapbooking parties once a month. It was advertised as "Girls Night Out" and we used to have FUN. Then some people started bringing their kids and honestly, it put a real damper on the evening. Me and my friends all said: We took care of our kids and spouses for the evening and so we don't want to be around someone else's. So we stopped going and when asked why by the organizer, we told her exactly why. Soon after that, rules were imposed: No kids at Girl's Night Out and they offered a Mom and Me scrapbooking event for people who wanted to bring their kids.
We also used to host a pumpkin carving party at Halloween and our friends AND their kids were invited. We had a lot of fun too. But then again, we also u sed to have parties where kids were NOT invited. I'm not that much of a scrooge, but there is a time and place for kid friendly activities and a time and place for adult ones.
And I have to say that I also like the new age limit of 21 for alcohol. We have some friends with a band here and we enjoy going to listen to them occasionally. I so like the fact that I dont' have to deal with teenagers when we go to a club to listen to this band.
I am really sounding like a grouchy old lady. Keep your damn kids off my lawn!
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