He's the Boss Around Here

I cannot be the only one....who is a Mama to a child that believes they are the boss in your house. Giving directions in place of taking directions has become a normal Sonny Boy'ism, whether it be when the dog needs to be walked or what I will serve for dinner, his two cents are thrown around freely. Sonny Boy's bossiness is especially in full swing when he's playing, or rather supervising, with me or his dad.

Showing me the game score.

I've seen this bossy behavior in other homes as well, like the time I was playing Barbies with a friend's chubby cheeked daughter and she not-so-kindly let me know that I was "doing it wrong." Apparently, I was unaware that Barbie isn't supposed to wear her boots in the dream house, those are for driving the pink corvette only.  All I could think was, well…forgive me for playing, I'll just head my way back to the world of grown ups and choose to wear my boots in the kitchen with a glass of wine.

Making sure he wins.

This type of dictatorial playing was taking place in my home while I was up to my elbows in suds washing the dishes before school this morning.  I could hear the creaking of the floor boards upstairs and my Sonny Boy directing the playtime with his dad, "Okay, now you have to ask me what I am doing here and then try to take my sword away so you can throw it into the Volcano." Sure, this sounds like fun, swords, volcanoes, adventure in full swing, but what about what the Hubs wanted to do, did he have any say in the play?

The good sport, and also imaginative, Hubs went right along with Sonny Boy's authoritative playing, that is until he switched the script (he threw the sword in a mouth of a whale as opposed to the volcano), and Sonny Boy was not happy.  If he were to review the Hubs performance in this playtime, I don't think the Hubs would fare well.  The Sonny Boy insisted that was not the way the game is played and that Hubs needed to get the sword back and do it again, right this time.

Unsettled with Hubs playing.

I started to wonder about kids and bossiness, does this happen because I boss Sonny Boy around, is he going to shove another kid into a locker in high school because the kid didn't play "right," or is this dictatorship just a phase?

I typed in "bossy kids" into google search and found an article on the blog The Mother Company titled, Bossy Kids, in which I learned that bossiness can be a sign of confidence, strong will, or possibly that the child is gifted. I've got to be honest, I am not betting the farm on him being gifted, but can attest to Sonny Boy's strong will (or stubbornness as it usually manifest itself). So, as the article suggested, I need to work on Sonny Boy's delivery, maybe a little less Stalin and a little more Mary Poppins, and hopefully smooth over the rough edges of his strong will.

Are you living with a mini-despot? What do you do to keep from being trampled over by your child's strong will (a.k.a.: bossiness)?

If you do have a bossy pants living in your humble abode, give the article Bossy Kids a read here: The Mother Company.