THINGS I SWORE I WOULD NEVER DO

When I look back to my childhood, I often remember things that my Mom used to say and do to my sister and brother and I that I swore I would never do to my kids. You know, the annoying, embarrasing, weird things that for some reason, are ingrained in every Mom out there?

How do I know that pretty much all other Mom's do these types of things as well? Simple answer. When I was young, all my other friend's complained of their Mom's doing these things. Furthermore, now that I am a Mom, (as much as I hate to admit this,) I am doing them as well. And my other Mom friends are doing them too. Apparently these things have stood the test of time.

O.K. so by now I am sure you are just dying to know what "these things" are.

I swore I would never bring my kids to a public restroom, and stand at the door constantly saying don't touch the toliet seat, if you have to go #2, put down some strips of toilet paper first.

I swore I would never see a spot of ketchup left over on one of the kids faces from lunch, lick my finger, then wipe said spot off their face.

I swore I would never go to one of their sporting events and yell at the top of my lungs "GO AVA, GO AVA, GO AVA!!" as she was playing said sport.

I swore I would never tell my kids to "just stop doing that because I said so", when they were doing something inappropriate because I did not want to explain to them why it was inappropriate.

An example seems necessary for this one. Back in the gradeschool days, my sister and I were laying on opposite ends of the couch one day, bored and looking for some entertainment. Our feet were touching, so we decided to start pushing on eachother's feet as hard as we could to see who would give up and release their hold first. This apparently got old, so we decided to start kicking eachother in the hip and yelling "Boner!"[We used this word as we were hitting eachother in the hip bone, get it? Boner?] We found it quite entertaining as this went on for some time: She would kick me, yell, "Boner!" Then I would kick her and yell "Boner!" We were finally interrupted when my mom came down the stairs yelling, "Girls, don't say that!!" our response? "Why Mom?" Her response? "Because I said so, just don't say that!"

At the time, we were both angry and annoyed as we wanted to know why. Now I whole heartedly realize her reasoning for that response.She did not want to give us a definition of what a boner was. And I don't blame her one bit.

I swore I would never drop one of the kids off at a playdate, and while driving off yell very loudly, "I love you honey!!"

I swore I would never, ever, ever use the phrase "because I am the parent and you are the child."

These are all things that my Mom did, and at the time I hated all of it. These things embarrased me, made me angry, frustrated, all kinds of things. I could not understand why she felt the need to do all of these things, and say all of these things. I did not understand until I became a Mom myself. Then I found myself doing and saying all of these things out of love.

I did not want the kids sitting on public restroom toilet seats as they are simply gross, and dirty and I did not want their clean little bottoms coming in contact with that grossness.

I lick my finger and wipe off a spot of food from their faces because they are my children. They grew in my belly for 9 whole months, after which I brought them into this world. So heck, a bit of spit on a finger to wipe of some food is nothing.

I go to Ava's dance recitals and yell "WOO-HOO Ava!!" when she is dancing. I do this because I am so very proud of her and simply can't contain myself.

I choose to say "stop doing that because I said so" because at times, I feel they are too young to know some things, and I simply want to protect their innocence for as long as I possible.

I drop Ava and Lucas off at playdates, school, and other functions, make sure to give them big hugs and kisses and tell them I love them. Why? Because I love them and I want them to know how very much I love them every day.

I have said many, many times "because I am the parent and you are the child" because kids need to respect their parents and respect the fact that what Mom and Dad says goes. All of the time.

So I guess there is a reason as to why these types of things have stood the test of time. As I said, these were all things that my Mom did as we were growing up, and now I am doing the same things as a parent. And I am glad. I believe these things (however silly some of them may seem) are helping my children growing up to be well rounded responsible adults, and most importantly, adults who know how much they were and are loved by their Mom.

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