Why Are We Waiting For Daddy?

Yesterday afternoon I was in Barnes & Noble with Sunshine picking out some new books.  She's currently reading Julie's stories from AG & I am SO excited to say, has developed a love for the Who Was. . .biography book series.  Sunday night, she dug out her Who Was Queen Elizabeth? book & came into the living room going "Mommy, listen to this. . ." and proceeded to read aloud to us for almost half an hour.

So, we're in B & N where we picked up Julie's 3rd book (Happy New Year, Julie) as well as Lanie's two books. All of them are AR books which is great.   While we were in the kid's section, there was a mom with her infant in the stroller & toddler son who was playing with the train table.  I say "playing". . .really he was throwing the trains.  Mom allowed it to continue by saying "Son's-name-here, stop it"  "Stop."  & "Stop it or else we're leaving"

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Big surprise, they never left.  Not before we did anyway.  She did escalate the empty threats to the all time classic "Wait until we get home & tell Daddy about this."

I don't get the whole "wait until your father gets home" & "wait until we get home & tell Daddy" thing.  Why is Daddy the bad guy?  Why does Daddy have to dole out punishment hours after the offense?  Is Mommy unable to well, mommy-up so to speak & be the parental bad guy when it comes to discipline?

And if so, what message are you sending your child?  I don't want to get into the whole "man as head of the household/submit to your husband" thing.  Whatever your religious beliefs are, good for you.  Glad you've got them, glad they're working for you.  In my house, Hunter & I are both in charge.  There's a co-sherriffing if you will.   There are times he's the good cop to my Mel Gibson bad cop ( except for the anti-semitic rants).  There are times I'm super good guy (girl?) Mommy to the rescue when he's the bad guy.   No one wants to be the bad guy/cop but this isn't a house plant we're raising.  It's a human being.  It's an impressionable, always learning about their world around them little person.  They need structure.  They need boundaries.  They need discipline when warranted.  And they learn from our behavior more than we realize.  

When Sunshine was 3, we were in the kitchen fixing dinner. I dropped something & said "damn it".  For the next couple weeks, Sunshine would drop something & in this little voice say "dammit"  My fear was that she would say it at preschool.  I spoke to her teacher about it & she put me at ease by saying that "damn it" was probably the least offensive curse she'd heard in all her years of teaching preschool.  And that so far, she hadn't heard Sunshine utter it.  PHEW!

That night I told Sunshine that Mommy had said something naughty  & that I shouldn't have said that.  And that I wouldn't say it again.  And I'd appreciate if she wouldn't say it either.

Seven years later I find myself only saying "stupid b...." in my head when such incidents occur.  Things like "good grief" "holy chowder" & "dang" cross my lips at times when more colorful words would work but be very inappropriate.  Sunshine has adopted "holy chowder" & added an s, because apparently chowders is more serious.  Holy guacamole is also a favorite of hers.  Not bad for an almost 9 year old kid.

Wow, 9!  I can't believe my baby is almost 9!  We've started to plan her birthday party & the other day I ordered the party favors.  It's hard to put together a cute favor bag for $3/girl so these are great.  I added in a little cupcake shaped lip gloss & might put little sleep masks for the girls as well.  I'm torn on making party invitation vs. buying them.  I picked up some cute doll size invitations to go along with the ones for the girls when they were on clearance at Michael's.  Why I didn't pick up the girl size ones at the same time is beyond me.  I was looking at some on etsy but $15 for invites is ridiculous to me.  I know it's someone's time, creativity & work but still.  It's a 9th birthday party, I can find different options.  There are some cute AG ones but they say "craft, create & celebrate"  & I'm not planning a craft at this party.  The party venue has a Wii or some other such game system & the parties we've been to there, the kids have just danced & played. Maybe I'll offer this pen craft as our "craft, create" portion for the girls who don't feel like playing dance party.

This week is busy---Mini-Book Fair starts on Thursday & runs through next Monday.  Yesterday I got the last minute stuff done--made/hung posters around the school, got the teacher's sign up sheets posted in the lounge & distributed the wish lists for teachers.  Today is the PTA board meeting & then tomorrow is book fair set up.  Friday is also the Father-Daughter Dance.  Sunshine's dress, shoes, & stockings are ready to go.  We'll just need to rush home from Drama Kids to get her ready to head out to dinner w/ Hunter before the dance.  And give me time to eat something & freshen up to head back to the evening portion of the Book Fair.

I'm not waiting for Daddy to get home, I'm waiting for Saturday!!