First in a long line
My soon-to-be former sister in law (SIL - henceforth known as Silie) is an odd individual. Since I have many stories from the archives on her, and since she decided to provide motivation by filing for divorce from my brother, here we go!
---
Junior (Silie's son) is young - about 2 years old at the time. As most 2-year-old boys are, he is active. He is in to everything. That's OK, and certainly not the odd part of this particular instance.
No, where it gets odd is in what Silie calls "parenting style." Silie claims to adhere to the notion of "attachment parenting." That is odd enough by itself, but to each his own, I suppose. No, Silie takes it to an extreme. Silie takes the notion of "positive discipline" to such an extreme so as not to allow others to correct Junior at all, regardless of circumstance.
This is hazardous, particularly with such a lazy-assed individual as Silie.
Junior had climbed up on top of our kitchen table. Silie had her lazy ass firmly planted in one of our living room chairs. I was in the kitchen, and my nephew was teetering, about to fall off the table.
"No Junior! You need to get down!" I exclaimed, grabbing the child from the ledge, and gently lowering him to the floor.
That got Silie off her ass!
---
Silie: "You know, Usagi, we do not give orders to Junior, and we certainly do not touch when we are angry to correct. Violence doesn't solve anything."
Usagi: "That's fine. Junior was about to fall off the table. I wasn't angry - I was worried my nephew would go splat in the floor! And if you don't tell the child what they need to do or need to avoid, how do they know when they are doing something unacceptable or unsafe?"
Silie: "But I heard you. You yelled at him! We don't do that and he didn't even need to be corrected."
Usagi: "Yelled? Corrected? I don't know what you heard, but that wasn't it. I didn't want him to fall and get hurt. That's all."
Silie: "Well, just stick to parenting your own kids, and let me handle mine."
Usagi: "Sure thing. By the way, when he starts putting his finger in a light socket, do you want me to just let him fry, or would you prefer I intervene and save his life?"
---
---
Junior (Silie's son) is young - about 2 years old at the time. As most 2-year-old boys are, he is active. He is in to everything. That's OK, and certainly not the odd part of this particular instance.
No, where it gets odd is in what Silie calls "parenting style." Silie claims to adhere to the notion of "attachment parenting." That is odd enough by itself, but to each his own, I suppose. No, Silie takes it to an extreme. Silie takes the notion of "positive discipline" to such an extreme so as not to allow others to correct Junior at all, regardless of circumstance.
This is hazardous, particularly with such a lazy-assed individual as Silie.
Junior had climbed up on top of our kitchen table. Silie had her lazy ass firmly planted in one of our living room chairs. I was in the kitchen, and my nephew was teetering, about to fall off the table.
"No Junior! You need to get down!" I exclaimed, grabbing the child from the ledge, and gently lowering him to the floor.
That got Silie off her ass!
---
Silie: "You know, Usagi, we do not give orders to Junior, and we certainly do not touch when we are angry to correct. Violence doesn't solve anything."
Usagi: "That's fine. Junior was about to fall off the table. I wasn't angry - I was worried my nephew would go splat in the floor! And if you don't tell the child what they need to do or need to avoid, how do they know when they are doing something unacceptable or unsafe?"
Silie: "But I heard you. You yelled at him! We don't do that and he didn't even need to be corrected."
Usagi: "Yelled? Corrected? I don't know what you heard, but that wasn't it. I didn't want him to fall and get hurt. That's all."
Silie: "Well, just stick to parenting your own kids, and let me handle mine."
Usagi: "Sure thing. By the way, when he starts putting his finger in a light socket, do you want me to just let him fry, or would you prefer I intervene and save his life?"
---
yep i met someone like that ... she did however change her parenting style when her 2y.o. fell down 2 flights of stairs .....
ReplyDeleteHi Julie - thank you for reading!
ReplyDeleteYikes! I do hope the child was not injured. Sadly, my Sister-in-Law has not changed her parenting style except to get more lazy and (if it is even possible) less involved with my nephew.
Oh dear. As I was reading this...I felt my eye twitch. Which is, NEVER, a good sign. Just ask the girls. It's amazing the level of ignorance out there. And it's getting worse. In her case....there is no hope of ever recovering. My heart goes out to your nephew, for if he's not removed from her prescence, I shudder to think what could happen. Attachment parenting? Yes..I believe in attaching my hand to their butt when needed. THAT is my idea of attachment parenting.
ReplyDeleteHi, Theresa, thanks for reading! :)
ReplyDeleteIt is my firm belief that "attachment parenting" is an ancient Indian word that means: "momma doesn't wanna get off her ass and do shit, much less parent." At least in this case, it means that.
I like the idea of "attaching" one's hand, belt or paddle to the bottom of a child who needs it. Funny thing is because I spank, I don't have to spank very much at all.