ok, so bubba tried to break his arm last week. Didn't work though. Turns out it was just something called Nursemaid's elbow where the ligament slips off the outside of the bones. (yuck).The little rascal was darn cute in his little sling though.And today at the doctor to have bubba's arm re-checked, I had this conversation with the Dr.:
(scene: bubba and gracie playing with the spinny doctor stool...Doctor enters stage right)
Dr: you really shouldn't be letting him play on that stool, he's already had his fair share of injuries for the month of august.
Me: I keep asking him to stop playing on it, but we've been waiting a long time. sorry. (thinking: maybe you shouldn't have something you deem so dangerous in your patient rooms!)
He gives me a 'look' and then apparently shows me how to properly parent them by proceeding to turn on the TV that was in the room that we were in.
Dr: don't you ever let your kids watch TV?
Me: well, i tried to get them to watch the TV, but they just don't want to. (thinking: seriously! am i getting chastised for NOT letting my kids watch enough tv!?)
And just yesterday this lady stopped me at wal-mart to tell me to not have bubba standing up in the cart. (This is not nearly the first time this had happened to me...random people stop and tell me how to parent quite frequently actually.) The thing is, the last time I went to wal-mart, i fought and fought bubba to try and strap him into a cart. I fought him for a good 3 minutes and finally prevailed...however, not without some lady stopping and saying to me, "I think you should just let him walk". I responded on the outside by rolling my eyes. On the inside I was asking her, "What,,, are you going to watch him, then?" So, it seems that I can't win with people. I don't strap him, i get a talking to, I strap him in and I get a talking to.
I'm noticing a common trend. I feel like I go places and see people looking at me and then I hear them whispering "blah blah blah super nanny blah blah". My kids are not bad kids. I like to think of them as "active". And I am not a bad mom, I like to think of myself as giving my children "creative license".
When I see people in the store, I don't whisper "blah blah what-not-to-wear blah blah". And I don't stop people and examine the contents of their carts and then tell them to stop compensating for their empty lives by filling it up with hot-pockets. So, why does it seem that I am the target for people's not-so-nice parenting suggestions? Do you think people are mistaking me for a teenage mother who is silently crying out for help? Is it because I'm short? Or on the other hand, am I just completely delusional about my parenting abilities? If so, by all means, organize an intervention.
