The Most Stubborn October 19, 2016

I am no stranger to stubborn people.  It runs deep in my blood.  It runs in my fathers blood and ran in my grandfathers blood.

 

With that in mind …

 

Whose son decided that he was no longer going to eat any real food because we made a rule in our home that each child would wash their own plate and cup after they ate and he doesn’t like to wash plates or cups?  Whose son gets really angry when he’s hungry and STILL did not eat anything because he didn’t want to wash a plate or a cup?   Whose son spent DAYS eating nothing but cheese balls straight out of its tub and cereal bars out of their wrappers and getting progressively more and more difficult to deal with?

Mine did.  🙂

 

(It took us a few days to figure out what was going on and what the root of his “lack of appetite and misery” was.)

 

Even with all the stubbornness that I have known in my life – and I have known a lot – I have never known someone who would stop eating in protest of dish washing.  Not in protest of washing the family’s dishes and some pots.  Oh no.  In protest of washing ONE plate and ONE cup.

 

On one hand, I think it’s great that he’s so strong-willed.  I don’t want children who will let other people walk all over them.  But can we all agree that this is a bit much and he’s taking it too far?  I mean, come on.  He seriously may be the most stubborn person I’ve ever known, and that’s saying a lot.

 

We had to put our foot down and get a little stern with him.  He is now back to eating proper meals and washing his plate.

He’s back to being happy and chatty.

*Whew*

 

I swear, these kids challenge everything I ever thought I knew about parenting.  I could have never predicted things like this.  Anyone who goes into it, thinking they have an idea about what parenting will be like, is sorely mistaken.  They don’t tell you about things like this is parenting books.

 

 

Reading, Glorious Reading April 2, 2014

Here’s the thing about Jay. Well, not THE thing. One thing.
He is stubborn and he thinks he knows a lot more than he actually does and he will not back down and once he has his mind made up, the chances of you changing it or convincing him that he is wrong are slim to not a chance in hell.
It’s a good thing and a bad thing depending on how you view it. Sometimes I put my foot down and try to show him (teach him) where he’s wrong about something, but sometimes it’s easier to just agree with him and say yes Jay, that factory tower in the distance spewing pollution into our air IS a rocket.

 

Last night, after Ace and I had just finished reading a story, Jay came with his own book that he wanted us to read together. It was a giant 130 page book of animals and animal facts. *Yawn* I mean, obviously I was happy to read with my boy, so yay for that, but I’m just not really a “read about animals” kinda girl. Know what I mean? Oh well, we snuggled in and began reading The Complete Guide To Animals. It’s a book that he chose himself at a book fair.

 

We started by looking at the pictures and talking about what the animals were doing in each picture. Then we would read a line or two of official facts and then we’d move on to the next page.
At page 74, Jay saw what he thought was a bird. I told him that it was in fact a penguin. He was adamant. “No mom. Is bird. Look, da hair.” I pointed to the words in the book; These brown, fluffy, penguin chicks, look very much like their parents, and read them to him. He then re-read them himself and was able to come to the realization that these hairy, bird looking creatures were actually penguins. He loudly said “Oh, you wight. Is penguins.” He was so excited to have learned something new.  Then we moved on to the next page.

 

This happened a couple more times and I was thrilled with the entire experience. It was all great. So great that I didn’t mind going through all 130 pages and putting him to bed 10 minutes late. I even learned a thing or two about Mandrills and Tasmanian Devils.  I had no idea that Tasmanian Devils were marsupials.  I guess animals aren’t sooo bad. Well, except eels. Those things are just plain ugly and they make my skin crawl.