Lunch at Magic Planet- where they have lots of ball pits, tunnels, slides and don’t forget the game room where they can pretend to shoot deer, people or aliens!
I heard (all from Dad’s, because who else would threaten to cut off access to the one place you can really run and jump during inclimate weather within a 30 mile radius) SIX different versions of “If you don’t, xyz, we’re NEVER coming back here again.”
Oh yeah? Tell me that again in February, when we’re in day six of an ice onslaught, no good sledding in sight.
My favorite though, was this one: (to a five year old) “Come here right now and DRINK YOUR PEPSI or we’re NEVER coming back.” You see? There is something wrong with Pepsi.
This afternoon I had the pleasure of waiting in a standing room only room full of pregnant families. The first timers all had the partners nervously patting the mom’s belly as they made layette lists. The second timers had only about 30% partner attendance, but about 90% first child attendance. And the doctors were running over an hour behind.
Next to me, a little girl repeatedly asked her mom for something to do. Mom replies different variations of “You should have gone before we left the house.” Mom then starts muttering (umm, I’d probably say it fits into the whining category) about how late the doctors are. Daughter asks again. Mom responds that she needs to learn how to be patient, because no one’s going to help her once the baby arrives. Daughter protests- Mom lands this zinger:
“You are eight seconds away from being slapped.”
This all while I’m reading an article rationalizing circumcision because it prevents STD’s and makes hygiene easier. It’s probably be easier to keep Carter’s fingernails clean if I just cut off his fingers.
I’m cranky, I’m exhausted, I’m broke and I’m stressed- hanging on by a very thin thread- but still I know this is not the world I want to inhabit. I want better. Maybe if we were able to treat our children with a modicum of respect, they’d grow up to treat each other with respect, and all the humans in Falluja would stand a chance at surviving.