After working with children for about 7 years, I am convinced their behavior gets worse and worse. Notice I said behavior. With kids it's important to realize the behavior is what is undesirable, not the child. I will say I have encountered some children that you can't help but wonder about, but that's another story.
I spent the day with 4 gorgeous girls that I have kept for about 5 years. Each one of them have dynamic personalities, and are a joy to be around. One of the little girls, whom I'll call Chatty Kathy, seems to have bipolar when it comes to me. Actually it's not me, and she's not really bipolar, but I find it humorous to refer to it that way. Chatty Kathy is a gorgeous 5 year-old, and has been a thorn in my side for about...oh I don't know, 5 years! You just never really know if she's going to come up and hug you, or knock you upside the head. There are 2 things I have learned that bring about the latter personality quirk...not getting her way, and her mother being around. This isn't an entirely new phenomen. A lot of children grow horns when being denied, and some even turn into brats when in their parent's presence. Interesting!
The short story of today is, Chatty Kathy is straight up rude and defiant! I turned my back for a minute and she was back in the pool I had just gotten her out of. She later told me she wasn't listening to me, because "I wasn't bossing her!" She told me no repeatedly, and even hid from me. She also smacked one of the other girls. Needless to say, it was a long day. What do you think her mother said to all this...the same thing she said over a year ago when I vowed never to watch them again after Chatty Kathy bit me, and left a perfect outline of her teeth in my leg...she LAUGHED! Hmmm...and we wonder why the child behaves this way!
On my way home, as I considered driving into Barren River, I began to get really mad at this situation. Here I am, 2 days into the summer with these girls, and I want to scream. What. Have. I. Done?
After cooling down I began to ponder on the decline of our youth. If you think logically, you realize that children aren't being born any differently than they were 20 years ago. They still get conceived the same way (sort of), and they're still born the same way. What's changed? PARENTS! Or should I say, the lack of. I don't want to hear anyone griping because I don't have children, and I don't know what it's like. First of all, I have taken care of kids for a long time, and in many settings. I know it's hard! Second, I have taken my parenting classes for my degree as a Marriage and Family Therapist which gives me the authority to tell you when you are being a bad parent! So if you're offended, ask yourself why! (I'm sorry, as you must know by now, my patience is GONE!)
Where have our parents gone? Good question...if you find them, please send them back! While you're looking, I'm going to head to bed and prepare myself for (gulp) tomorrow. I'll write more about the loss of our parents next time.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
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