Beware I’m about to have a pity party for myself and you, my readers, are invited to attend. Today Gabby got kicked out of the gym kids’ club for aggressive behavior. And certainly this came at no surprise since she had been getting bad reports, my disgust over the circumstance was not any less.
Clearly I have not been very private of my struggles with Drew. A lot of his challenges, although managed with certain tactics, I have chalked up to his personality. He is strong willed, opinionated and unfortunately very similar to me in a lot of ways that causes us to constantly butt heads.
Gabby, on the other hand, seems different. She is the one to concede – she gives Drew the toy when he has a fit, she is the affectionate one and at least by comparison she is the mild mannered one. To experience such defeat in a social peer setting, like the daycare, is so upsetting.
Some of you may be thinking it, it’s for surely haunting me, so I’m just gonna come right out and say it (with shame and definite humility)…what am I doing wrong? I raise my children in a household where voices are very infrequently raised. Once in my whole parenting career I spanked Drew for a safety reason (which is a whole conversation unto itself). I do have an aggressive personality, but an appropriately aggressive personality which is properly managed in social settings (I’m not having screaming fits at grocers or anything like that). So what am I doing wrong?
I have worked very hard to raise them in a loving atmosphere filled with praise and repercussions for bad behavior. Yet I now have two children who seem to have not absorbed any of the principles that I hold so dear. A parent’s job is to raise your children with values that they can then take forward to be a productive member of society. I have clearly failed. My children are going to be in JU-V before they turn five!
And the larger more pressing point is that mom is absolutely without a doubt not a happy camper to be pulled out of her class fifteen minutes mid-workout! This is not going to work for me one bit! How can I get my delinquent whipped into shape so I can get my butt whipped into shape for bathing suit season?!?!
I'm a mother, wife, daughter, and friend. Until recently I was also an employee. Now that I'm a full time mom, I've decided to make my thoughts, concerns and feelings public.
Sorry to hear all the problems you are having with the kids. Don’t blame yourself. I’m sure you are doing everything in your power to provide them with a loving home and family. Maybe it’s time to speak to a Child Psychologist and get some professional advice.
Thanks for your sympathy. I guess nobody said this was supposed to be easy. I’m very open to getting help but I’m going to wait and see (hopefully this is just a phase). Time will tell. Thanks for commenting!