Somewhere in school from another boy Little S learned to draw the TGV high speed French train. Yesterday he drew about ten of them, excitedly talking about how they look and what their features were. He remembered we'd taken them "a whole lots of times" and that they were really, really long like this, and he stretched out his arms wide. "They're really a lot long!" I have no idea why the sudden interest in the TGV, or TVD as he calls it.
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Yesterday after school I met a mom who came up and introduced herself as the la maman de Louis. She invited us to come over and have a playdate that very day but I begged off until next week mostly because Charlotte had yet to be out of her morning pyjamas (I know, I know) and they were a little dirty from her crawling everywhere. She still had them on under her jeans and coat. We made a date for the same day the following week. I've thought this mom seemed nice for a while. She smiles and we dress sort of the same, --jeans, Converse, knitted hat, so I was pleased that maybe she's one of those casual, relaxed moms that I can get along with and not uptight always screaming at her kid "arret, arret-ah" like so many of the moms I see each day. In fact she's probably the mom I would have gravitated towards eventually anyway.
I'm really pleased for Little S to begin to have friends. He's shy in groups but once he's met someone one on one he starts chattering so maybe this will be a catalyst to get him speaking at school.
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I've got a feeling (latest Beatles song to be stuck in my head, sorry for the earworm)
8 comments:
Discipline and especially yelling at your kids in public is something I notice a lot more here. It drives me nuts. I especially don't like "ne touche pas!" (don't touch) which many moms here say over and over to their kids. They're four and they can't touch anything. It just ain't natural!
It's hard to find the balance. I'm not afraid to discipline, but I do think kids need to be kids. My Swiss nephews are wonderful, but they always seem so stressed out. I also try to avoid tantrums in public, so am probably viewed as more lenient than I really am. I figure a tantrum and me yelling does *no one* any good, just stresses everyone out around us.
Ah, parenthood!
Oh yeah I hear you. I'm certainly no angel either and I do my fair share of screaming. It's just the reflex-yelling that annoys me. It's repeating that empty phrase over and over just to prove to everyone within earshot that you're a hardcore mom who doesn't take any crap from her kids. That really bugs me. And the no touching phrase. Agggh! There's one little girl whose mother won't let her touch anything--not even the school gate or the wall or the grass. She's going to grow up a rebel you can just tell.
Sorry for the delete. I just got a little paranoid, since I link your page to my blog and our families read it...and if they link over, well...
Sorry for the delete. I just got a little paranoid, since I link your page to my blog and our families read it...and if they link over, well...
Oh that's okay. I completely understand. And I wanted to say that I don't judge these mothers at all. I never judge a mother. I just don't feel a kinship with them. And I don't think I could sit there and be relaxed with them. I'd start getting anxious and probably annoyed. It would be disruptive to my spending time with them to listen to the constant correcting & reprimending.
It’s a hard balance to find between disciplining your children in public and saying NO to every little thing. Kids will be kids but I do believe in firm discipline, routines and children that know that it’s the parents that are in charge.
One thing that drives me NUTS are parents that say “stop doing that, stop doing this” they say it several times, their child carries on “doing this and doing that” while the parents watch and they repeat themselves the child carries on and on. They don’t actually follow up with the action to the their words, so they end up screaming at the child who ends up in tears
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