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Parents, Share Incidents of Family Wisdom
Vanity ^ | 07/30/10 | Sara Johnson

Posted on 07/30/2010 12:16:10 PM PDT by SaraJohnson

This is my first vanity and let's hope the last for those who hate vanities.

As a parent, I gained a great deal of insight in life from my sons. I figure it is the central benefit of the self sacrifice of parenting. I am asking Freeper parents and grandparents to share lessons from observing and interacting with their kids.

(Excerpt) Read more at vanity@freerepublic.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: child; childdevelopment; children; families; family; fun; funny; humor; kid; kids; kidssaythedarnedest; parent; parenting; things
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Here is one of our family stories.

My eldest son, at age one and two, was fascinated with the game "Candyland." He looped every adult who came into the house to play the game with him. He was not a good loser, and as time when by, he decided that Plumby, that purple creature on the deadly card, was his major foil to success. So...in secret, he strangled the plumby card and tossed him in the trash. Being a baby, he did not think to bury the body and so the evidence of the crime was discovered quickly by Dad.

When Dad found dead Plumby in the trash, the game turned from Candyland to Clue. Who crumbled up the Candyland spoiler and tossed him in the trash and why????? Was it an overdose of ego - the desire to win at any cost - or was it cookie monster, angry that plumby was not eatible because he was merely a dang card - paper?

The family three members all denied having been part of the cime. Mom said she likes plumby; he adds a fun aspect of chance to the game. She would not murder him. The Dad agreed with the mom, and so he proclaimed his innocence. The baby..well he had shifty eyes while saying plumby was not really important and was baaaad because he showed up and made innocent people lose the game for no reason. He suggested one of the stuffed animals or the dog, Lilly, did it. The baby denied his murder and shifted blamed on unquestion "members" of the family. It just so happened these suspects of baby could not be questioned...

So, I will tell you more of this mystery as this thread develops among parents and grandparents who might be able to guess who killed Plumby from their own stories of deviant toddlers.

1 posted on 07/30/2010 12:16:13 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: SaraJohnson

Not really mine, but it harkens back to a simpler time:

This morning my son (4) asked to go see a couple of boys he met at a family wedding a while back, and I told him we weren’t going to spend the money or the time to get on a plane and go see someone we hardly know. He responded, “Well, we played lego’s together.”

Hope everyone is enjoying your Friday!!


2 posted on 07/30/2010 12:22:18 PM PDT by Ingtar (If he could have taxed it, Obama's hole would have been plugged by now.)
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To: SaraJohnson

If you ever gain access to any of my family members, please don’t ask them to tell you story of me and my grandmother’s chocolate cake from which the icing ‘mysteriously’ disappeared. At seven, if I had realize what can be reveal in a mirror, I might have avoided two whuppins. Oh, and no matter hwo well you clean up the tools used to scrap icing from layers of a cake (and in between, too), if you don’t wash your face, you’re gonna get busted.


3 posted on 07/30/2010 12:24:23 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Dem voters, believing they cannot be deceived, it is impossible to convince them when deceived.)
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To: SaraJohnson

A stone cold killer with a heart of ice.

4 posted on 07/30/2010 12:26:18 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: SaraJohnson

Your son is smarter than his parents.

See, he knows that Plumpy is no good. They have taken him out of the most recent version of the game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Land


5 posted on 07/30/2010 12:27:33 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (PALIN/MCCAIN IN 2012 - barf alert? sarc tag? -- can't decide)
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To: SaraJohnson

Well, I don’t have anything so interesting, but I’ll share this incident. We had 4 children born in 5 years. Sat. mornings when everyone was home was always a busy time with mom and dad trying to catch up on repairs, yard work, etc. and the kids involved in various endeavors. My youngest son was about 3 when this happened.

I called the family in for lunch — soup and sandwiches — and noted that I had baked a Boysenberry pie for dessert. Everyone came to the table and dove into their food. I cleared the dishes and asked who wanted Boysenberry pie?

There were enthusiastic affirmatives all around, except from my three year old. His face was very serious and rather dour as I passed the pie all around and we dug into warm pie with ice cream on top.

I asked him again, and he shook his head no. Then, he asked his father rather cautiously, “Dad, are poisonperries really poison?”


6 posted on 07/30/2010 12:29:06 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic (Southeast Wisconsin)
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To: SaraJohnson

Only put as much of a drink in a child’s cup that you would not feel guilty about pouring down the drain.


7 posted on 07/30/2010 12:37:06 PM PDT by Bosco (Remember how you felt on September 11?)
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To: MHGinTN

PICS!

WHERE ARE THE PICS!

I WANNA SEE PICTURES!

LOL.


8 posted on 07/30/2010 12:37:28 PM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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To: SaraJohnson

It was a great trip.

Me, the wife and our two kids in the mini-van. We had been to Grandma’s and were heading back home after a few days on the road. And as kids do, they began to squabble and bicker in the back seat. We warned them once or twice to knock it off and keep quiet.

Finally I yelled; “Are ya’ll two done being stupid back there?”

Little Melissa answered right back; “Sam is; I’m not!”

That comment sank in with all of us. Talk about a “Wait-What?” moment.

We all laughed. The rest of the trip went much better.


9 posted on 07/30/2010 12:37:59 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (PALIN/MCCAIN IN 2012 - barf alert? sarc tag? -- can't decide)
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To: SaraJohnson
A few things:
Punishment - never lecture/punish a child while you are wearing sunglasses. Let them see your eyes. Get down/kneel down to their level. Don't yell at them from above.

Sidebar - Allow two levels of communication to handle a problem. Yelling or timeouts or paddling are the ways most of us know and have experienced. The other is to allow a sidebar. Treat the kid like an adult and have a rational discussion with them.

Talk to them as if you are giving some sort of inside information no one else knows.

Even my kid at 4 years old could handle that kind of discussion. Put the issue into a perspective they can understand.

Not funny anecdotes here but they have worked for us.

10 posted on 07/30/2010 12:46:51 PM PDT by Bartholomew Roberts
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To: Quix

Such a thing would live in infamy. Thankfully, the only picture is the one burned into my memory when my Mother held me up to the bathroom mirror before she whupped me again! ... But the chocolate I could reach with my tongue was cleaned off, before the tears helped wash the rest from my wicked little face. ...


11 posted on 07/30/2010 12:51:43 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Dem voters, believing they cannot be deceived, it is impossible to convince them when deceived.)
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To: MHGinTN

The entire episode is one which I intend for a children’s book, complete with illust5rations ... and it is true.


12 posted on 07/30/2010 12:54:18 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Dem voters, believing they cannot be deceived, it is impossible to convince them when deceived.)
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To: MHGinTN

GUFFAWS.

Your description with my imagination is plenty vivid enough.

Great description.

Thx.


13 posted on 07/30/2010 12:57:37 PM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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To: SaraJohnson

Do not coddle them when they are being brats. It only leads to greater brathood.


14 posted on 07/30/2010 1:03:02 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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Along the lines of ‘look them in the eyes and talk to them at their level’ as posted above, I made a point of always responded to my son on the first, ‘Mom.’

I noticed that kids scream, ‘mommy, mommy!’ and the mom just ignores them until she can’t take it anymore, then she usually flips out. What the kids learn is to amp up the demand level because that’s the only thing that gets a reaction.

When my wanted my attention he got it, even if it was me telling him, ‘I’ll be with you in a moment.’ He knew he wasn’t being ignored, but that sometimes he was going to have to wait to speak with me until I had finished whatever I was doing. It also taught him that 2 adults speaking was not a cue for him to join the conversation.

When my son was a toddler, he would sometimes take things from a store and we wouldn’t notice until we got home. There were many talks about the evils of theft, etc. I guess the lessons finally sunk in when he went to the store with his grandfather and said, very loudly, “We’re not going to steal anything today, are we grandpa?”


15 posted on 07/30/2010 1:08:52 PM PDT by radiohead (Buy ammo, get your kids out of government schools, pray for the Republic.)
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To: radiohead

Excellent advice, and LOL.


16 posted on 07/30/2010 1:14:53 PM PDT by agere_contra (...what if we won't eat the dog food?)
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To: pissant

That is wisdom from the ages! Coddling is a bigggg mistake! Psychological warfare is more like it! LOL

Got a family story, pissant? Tell it!


17 posted on 07/30/2010 1:16:21 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: Ingtar

He responded, “Well, we played lego’s together.”


Well get with the program! What could matter more than playing legos and having fun? Debt to travel! Screw debt! Let’s have fun, mommy and daddy! LOL

Kids are too much obvious in the bottom line of unchecked ego! Kinda like liberals!


18 posted on 07/30/2010 1:22:36 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: Bartholomew Roberts

Talk to them as if you are giving some sort of inside information no one else knows.

Even my kid at 4 years old could handle that kind of discussion. Put the issue into a perspective they can understand.


You bet funny is not necessarily the spirit of the moment in confronting or teaching the human condition with our kids. Yes, they can handle discussions of right from wrong in an amazingly wise condition, considering their age. They know but it is a challenge to do!

My husband and I are comedians by nature and enjoyed the show our children put on to demonstrate to us - knowingly - the most basic of the human condition. Life to us, is very funny; abet scarey...


19 posted on 07/30/2010 1:29:18 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: agere_contra

Today that little thief is the proud FReeper skywalk, who introduced me to FR.


20 posted on 07/30/2010 1:31:28 PM PDT by radiohead (Buy ammo, get your kids out of government schools, pray for the Republic.)
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