We had a visitor with a baby Eh's age last week. The girls hit it off and were playing pretty nicely, for the most part. At one point, the mom had to excuse herself and I was left with the kids. Before I knew what happened, the little visitor got a hold of one of Eh's drumsticks (little colorful things that came in a set of little instruments) and no matter how much Eh asked her she wouldn't give them. I told Eh that she should just take the stick away. But my poor little daughter just kept crying, jumping, screeching and trying all the other tricks available to a 2 year old except for taking the blessed stick from the kid. I was trying to teach Eh to be independent and kept telling her " take the stick, just take it" but my little girl just couldn't do it. Meanwhile the visitor seemed to be oblivious to Eh's distress and kept walking up and down the room with a stroller and a drumstick in her hand. She had a few months of daycare experience (aka fight for your toys) under her belt and just enjoyed the toys while she can.
This whole thing must've lasted for about 5 minutes at which point, the mom of the visiting girl came out of the bathroom, asked her daughter to give up the stick which she did with ease, and gave it to my inconsolable-for-another-few-minutes daughter.
I'm still reliving this episode as if it happened 1/2 hour ago ( though a bit over a week has past) and wondering what the h*ll made me think that by telling my daughter over and over and over again to take her toy away from someone who [technically speaking] stole it from her I'd give her a crash course in daycare etiquette. Not only didn't I help my daughter in the long rung, I didn't help my daughter. I let her cry, get disappointed, frustrated. I now feel resentment towards that kid and the mom, who heard the commotion but didn't bother coming to the rescue earlier since it wasn't her child who was crying...
Maybe after putting it in writing I'll get over this episode like my little Eh did a little while after it happened. Maybe I'll learn to stop doing stupid things as soon as I realize I'm doing something stupid rather than continuing to persevere in futile hope that something stupid will turn into something great? Hear hear.
Politics is not the point
1 week ago
4 comments:
Eh is an extremely friendly and sunny person who loves people and who for her age is quite unselfish. We just have to stay away from stupid and selfish people. Unfortunately, it is not always possible.
Oh, c'mon, Barb! Aren't you a little hasty in your judgment? The girl was only two years old! Kids do that sort of thing all the time. Before you know it, your sweet nephew will be doing it to Eh several times/hr, and if she is an average kid, she will be doing it to him as well. And seriously, if I left the bathroom every time my kid cried, I would - cough, cough - never relieve myself during the daylight. And leaving the bathroom when someone else's kid is crying - why? Her mother is there. I can almost guarantee you that once SiM grows up, this entire episode will look SOOOO much different than it looks now.
OK, OK, maybe I was projecting on something else. Consider my previous comment withdrawn:)
Ok, they already have toy sharing issues. Actually, there is no sharing. A toy that enters the house is automatically Eh's. She lets Sim play with it if she has something more important to do. That's not really the point.
There are certain unspoken rules though.
When your kid is in someone else's house you won't necessarily let him/her do some things that you'd otherwise ignore...
For that same reason, you may actually run out of the bathroom prematurely if you hear that your kid is having an ' argument' with the ' host'...
Naturally, I may be wrong. I just feel bad that I picked the wrong time to teach my kid to be assertive...
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