Parenting: Manners & Children. How to Handle It When Other Parents Aren’t Doing Their Job.
May 20, 2012 by admin
Filed under Featured, Latest, Motherhood
Recently, I met up with another working mom at a great play space that serves food and coffee for the adults while you watch the kiddos play. My 2 year old, and my girlfriends 2 year old were happily playing , and next to us were another two moms watching their two children of about the same age. Of course, my son bought his favorite little truck, and while there were a ton of toys there, one of the other little boys came over and grabbed the truck away from my son.
As a parent you don’t like to see that kind of behavior, but I didn’t want to make a federal case out of it either. I hoped the child’s mother would say something as my 2 year old screamed in protest. No dice. So I thought about it. Why should my child suffer? He shouldn’t. And although I hoped she would take control, when she didn’t I kindly (but firmly) said to her child, “Please give that back to him. That is his toy.” The other mother whipped her head around and gave me a dirty look, and I quickly added (with the biggest smile I could muster), “…unless, of course, you want to listen to my son scream because of the toy that was taken from him.” With that she turned back around and that was the end of it.
It was not ideal, and even my girlfriend said she didn’t know if she would have asked for the truck back or not. I never know what to do when something like that happens. But ladies, in the city where we don’t all have yards, and kids will be kids, a situation like this is bound to happen. Weigh your options. I say be kind to people, and even kinder to children, but not at the expense of your own children. Treat people how you would like to be treated with fairness, dignity and respect. If your child is in the wrong, correct the situation, always with love.
By Heather Harvey
Heather Harvey is a mom, wife, and entrepreneur here in NYC. She has two little ones and also recently created and launched her very own health product, The MeasureUp Bowl. She created MeasureUP Bowls after the birth of her second child, when she realized that she was out of shape, tired and really needed to make some changes. The creation of the bowls that make portion control easy changed her body shape and her life! For more information on Heather and MeasureUP go to her website.
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