Not "That" Kid

I cannot be the only one...whose child has become best friends with "that" kid in their preschool class, you mothers know which kid I am referring to, the one kid that is the only one who gets in trouble on a daily basis and thinks it's very funny.  The other children in class are mystically drawn to this kid because he stands out, he becomes the center of the teacher's attention when he won't stop his incessant blabbering during circle time, and while the other children may not want to be in trouble they can't help from admiring "that kid" for his ability to be the one they all are looking at.

In our case this child has slowly molded my son into a noise making, defiant, strange little boy who copies "that" kid's speech impediments and drives the rest of his family mad while their pleading with him to stop the ridiculous behavior.  This situation becomes a fine line to walk, I want my son to have fun and be as silly as a five year old can be, but not to the extent that "that" kid is influencing him to be.  One day my son was playing in the sand and shared a funny "that" kid story with me, "Mom, did you know it can rain pencils?  "That" kid made it rain pencils in our classroom yesterday." Why, why, why did it have to be my son that "that kid" befriended, why couldn't it be a nice quiet bookworm that enjoyed stimulating conversation about reading rainbow?

I cannot be the only one whose child thinks the bad boy or "that" kid is the coolest, can I?

Horror Movie Kids

photo credit: http://moviesonline.ca

I cannot be the only one...who while watching a scary movie that has children as part of the plot finds themselves yelling at the parents on the screen, "What are you doing? Get your kid out of there!" I have found myself unable to suspend reality long enough to enjoy a scary movie since becoming a mother, at least not a movie in which parents act like bystanders in situations where their children are in dire danger.

Before my days of motherhood I happily watched movies like The Exorcist and Poltergeist with grinding teeth and knotted fist, but no longer can I be frightened by a child centered horror movie without my mom instincts kicking in.  I stare at the tortured family on the screen and ask, aloud to the dismay of those around me, why is this family still there.  Whether it be chairs moving out from the dining room table on their own or a dark stalking figure seen on the property in the shadows, I can't help myself from thinking why didn't those people run at the first creepy incident.  I am completely aware that if they did vacate the premises so early into the action that there would be no story, no drama, and I wouldn't be watching a movie, but, alas my mom brain never takes a vacation.

I cannot be the only one that feels scary movies are ruined for them when they became a parent, can I?

Don't Challenge Video Games

I cannot be the only one....who was under the impression that saying I don't think a video game truck for a five year old's birthday party is necessary, mainly because a five year can have fun keeping a balloon from touching the ground, was a safe comment to make in mixed-mom company, but I was mistaken and a lengthy debate was the product of my mistake.

My husband and I never go out, I know that many of you think the same thing about you and your hubby, but the last time we had gone out together sans Junior was a least six months ago, truthfully it could possibly be longer.  So when we get asked to join a group of friends for a bit of drinking and gossip I get excited, then we arrive at the party, I start having conversations, and I remember rather swiftly why I enjoy staying home: the parent debates.

One of my friends daughter is a student in my sons preschool class, I assumed this makes for tons of enjoyable conversations, but the convo took a sour turn when I brought up another students birthday party at which the parents rented a video game truck to entertain the partygoers.  I learned early and often to broach subjects without judging words, so I can tell you in all honesty that I only commented on the fact that the kids would have, or could have, had just as much fun at the birthday party without a video game big rig.  This sparked a debate of how children should be allowed to have a good time whether playing video games or coloring pictures of one-eyed monsters, keep in mind I never said kids shouldn't play video games or spouted supporting statistics of how video games can be damaging in anyway, but that did not seem to matter, I had opened Pandora's box and I was was in for an hour video game defense.

I cannot be the only one who has sparked an unwarranted debate amongst other parents completely on accident, can I?