I have never really wanted to use this blog as a place to vent or give my opinions about one thing or another. My intention is to post things happening in my families life. But, last night at the park, I was very flustered about some things. I have told Jeff, that I need to have a segment either on blogger or facebook, called, "What Grinds my Gears!" Jeff said to make it really good, I need to video tape myself and post it. I got the idea of this segment from a quality show called 'Family Guy' and Peter Griffin on an episode is a reporter for a news channel with this segment.
In no way am I the perfect mom and I miss things, I really do, but sometimes I see mom's just not even trying to do their job and you or your spouse end up having to be the police officer at the park or play area.
As a mom, some things that grind my gears:
-Last week, Joseph and I went to Chick fil a to have a nice lunch and play in the play area since it was all indoors. We make our way to the play area and there are two mom's who I can only describe as 'Yellers!!' I mean seriously, this play area is very small and echos significantly, so is it necessary?!?!? For about the first 15 minutes Joseph wouldn't leave my side to go play because he was so distracted by their tone...Jeff and I aren't yellers, so when he sees people like this, he is very concerned. When these mom's were giving directions to their kids they were yelling, yelling 'don't hit her or....' I mean, come on, just go up to your child and quietly give them directions. It was a little annoying and both Joe and I were relieved when they left.
-Last night Jeff and I loaded the whole family in the truck and our bikes and went to a local park. We rode around for a while and then took Joseph to the park to play. As soon as Joseph gets to the rocks, he did what any 1 year old does, grabs a hand full and chunks them. We immediately correct him (quietly) and tell him he can hold them and drop, but no throwing. So our play continues and about 15 minutes later, there were two boys, probably ages 3 and 9, and rocks are flying. There is a lady on the bench right behind me, who I can confidently assume is the mom, not putting a stop to it. I don't say anything, and eventually Joe gets hammered by a ton of rocks. Yes, I was a little annoyed, so I went over to Joe and used it as a teaching tool. See, that is why we don't throw rocks...it hurts and of course wiped his tears and gave kisses. As the night continued they kept throwing rocks and Jeff had to keep asking them to stop. Our night continues and this little girl, about 2, walks up to Joe and what I thought was to be trying to love on him turned into UFC. She started pulling his collar and grabbing him around the neck trying to take him down. Jeff was there and just kindly pulled her off and patted her and said, "Be gentle," and then the little girl smacked Joe....that wasn't much fun for him. We look around for the mom, who was no where close and not paying the least bit attention to her kids. So annoying! We tried to get Joe to play on the equipment and go down the slides, but the little girl kept coming back for more and he wasn't wanting anymore of that, so our night was pretty much cut short. Thanks chicka! When we left the area, Jeff leaned over, "Where are the parents?" That's my point. I'm not or don't consider or encourage for that matter, to be a helicopter parent, but please be near your child or attentive so when they are having a war of rock throwing or trying to compete in the UFC, you can kindly put a stop to it.
Oh, the same little girl who was picking on Joe, put a bunch of rocks in her mouth and started choking and another dad caught her and intervened. I wanted to tell the mom, 'your welcome!!'
-And one more thing, but not the last, that Grinds my gears, is when parents bring their kids to the park, plop down on the bench, and chat away on their cells. Now, I have taken a call before at the park, but honestly, use this time to interact with your child, geesh. Now, this isn't for the mom's of older one's because I know they can handle themselves, but I have seen mom's with little one's do this....the little one's who are throwing the rocks and tackling other babies. Come on now! Get with it.
And those are some things that Grind my Gears. What grinds yours?
Today Jeff had off, so went to half price books to sell some of our books and hopefully get some money. After that, we made our way to Pearland Town Center to go to the Barnes and Noble to look at children's books. I had also been craving a Starbucks drink, so we were able to kill two birds with one stone. FYI, about 3 years ago, Courtney took me to a Barnes and Noble is Pasadena (I believe this is where we went) and introduced me to a Sundried Tomato Pretzel filled with cheese. It was absolutely scrumptious. Today at Starbucks I noticed they had pretzels and about freaked. Unfortunately, they didn't have the sundried tomato one, but I did score pretty good with an Asiago Pretzel. They had a jalapeno one that looked awesome, but she said it was spicy and I had Joseph who I knew would want to share. After all this delight, we made our way to the water/spray area. We thought we would let Joe run through and maybe get sprayed a little,but he went right by all the random shots of water and ended up here:
