Month: June 2008

What Were These Parents Thinking?

Thing 1 plays on a soccer team. At this age, it’s more of an organized play time than an actual soccer game. But he really enjoys it. I’m sure it’s a hint of what my life will become in a few years as all three kids get into it.

Each week, it is one parent’s job to bring the snack for the team. Bags of crackers, cookies, or pretzels are the norm. This week, the parent decided to bring frozen fruit flavored ice push ups. It’s like a popsicle, except smaller, fatter, and harder to open without making a mess. Especially when it is half melted from sitting in a cooler for an hour with not enough ice.

All the other parents cringed when they saw the team emerge from the snack huddle with frozen treats in hand. The kids loved it for about 6 seconds. That’s how long it takes for the popsicle to be pushed up too far and fall on the grass.

Maybe it is this parent’s way of playing a joke on the rest of us. Ha ha ha. Very funny.

Popsicle

Parenting Poll of the Week – Allowance and Chores

I was surprised to learn that many child development experts agree that linking an allowance to the completion of chores is not the best approach. I would have thought the opposite, but it kind of makes sense.

Giving money for bigger chores is ok. But regular, everyday chores, like taking out the garbage or cleaning up after dinner, are responsibilities they should be doing without monetary reward.

If daily chores are only done to get paid, then when kids get older, and have other streams of money, they’ll stop doing the chores because they don’t need the money. Makes sense.

[poll=19]

The Gift I Never Wanted

Everyone has their own God given talents. Unique skills which separate them from the pack. Sometimes the talent is, indeed, a gift. Playing the piano is a gift. Hitting a golf ball 300 yards is a gift. But sometimes, the “gift” is not something we want to have. In those cases, we’d rather be like everyone else.

But we can’t escape what we have been given. To quote Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben, “With great power comes great responsibility“.

And so, with great reluctance, I have come to recognize a talent of mine for what it is – a gift. I’m still not sure what I’m meant to do with it, but maybe someday I’ll know.

What is this great talent of mine? I can identify the smell of my kid’s poop. Yes, with a room full of people, when I hear, “Who has a dirty diaper?”, I can definitively claim, “Oh, that’s Thing 2” just by catching a whiff.

It’s not something I wanted. Or that I’m particularly proud of. But I have accepted it as one of my “gifts”.