I'm Turning Into My Parents...
Not really...but some days it feels like it. It only takes a moment of letting my guard down and before I can catch myself I am saying things like, "When I was your age...I had to walk more than twelve blocks to school" (which I really did) or I catch myself saying things like. "There was no such thing as an allowance...I only received money by cutting grass, raking leaves and shoveling snow or some other menial task!" (I made pretty good money too) As a kid I was sure that my parents were putting 10 on the 2 (exaggerating), but now that I am older and have kids on my own I realize that as times change and as culture changes, there are a lot of things that we no longer have to do, and so there truly are some drastic differences in the way things are done. After having conversations with my children I discovered that when the wife and I share the things that we had to do, it does sometimes seem outlandish or far fetched.
Another bad habit I noticed that I have inherited from my parents is speaking a different language when I am scolding my children. Sometimes no words come out at all...it's just a combination of grunts and gestures and vivid facial expressions, but somehow they manage to get the message loud and clear. I think that it's some primitive form of verbal parental dyslexia. Letters and words become jumbled when you attempt to scold. For instance while scolding my son and checking to see that he is listening I asked "Boy! Do you Under-Hear Me?" (a combination of do you hear me and do you understand me) these phrase usually have and adverse effect as they sometimes sound ridiculous and elicit chuckles from the scoldees.
Over the weekend I was amazed and had to turn my parenting brain off while we were out in public. I couldn't believe the number of young parents I saw that had absolutely no control whatsoever over there children. In several cases the young children were almost injured as their parents stood by begging and pleading with little Johnny and Mallory to come out of the street while the little kid blatantly ignored them almost being run over. Seeing all of this thrust me right back into that mold..."why back in my day I would have never even dreamed of defying my parents like that...man..they would have smacked the taste out of my mouth for even contemplating or entertaining the thought in the back corners of my brain..." To which my children respond..."We Know Dad...We know"
Another bad habit I noticed that I have inherited from my parents is speaking a different language when I am scolding my children. Sometimes no words come out at all...it's just a combination of grunts and gestures and vivid facial expressions, but somehow they manage to get the message loud and clear. I think that it's some primitive form of verbal parental dyslexia. Letters and words become jumbled when you attempt to scold. For instance while scolding my son and checking to see that he is listening I asked "Boy! Do you Under-Hear Me?" (a combination of do you hear me and do you understand me) these phrase usually have and adverse effect as they sometimes sound ridiculous and elicit chuckles from the scoldees.
Over the weekend I was amazed and had to turn my parenting brain off while we were out in public. I couldn't believe the number of young parents I saw that had absolutely no control whatsoever over there children. In several cases the young children were almost injured as their parents stood by begging and pleading with little Johnny and Mallory to come out of the street while the little kid blatantly ignored them almost being run over. Seeing all of this thrust me right back into that mold..."why back in my day I would have never even dreamed of defying my parents like that...man..they would have smacked the taste out of my mouth for even contemplating or entertaining the thought in the back corners of my brain..." To which my children respond..."We Know Dad...We know"
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