I am the first to conceed that my children are just a tad unusual. This has never bothered me. Personally I like oddities. Their oddness began early & has developed nicely over the years. What I remember of the 'terrible two's' is the unusualness of the tantrums. Most of mine threw one absolute doozy which cured them for all time of ever throwing another.
Dino liked to throw his wobblies in public. The sweetest natured of all my children he was a chronic social butterfly & inevitably performed whenever he was told it was time to pack up & go home. This particular day I had taken all our kiddies to our small swimming enclosure. The tides were kind & we had had water for swimming in most of the day & the small strip of sand for the rest of the time. We had spent the entire day in the open air & everyone, but especially mum, was getting tired as the shadows lengthened. It was time to go home, wash off the sand, have tea & head for bed. I was looking forward to it but Dino wasn't quite ready to head home. He stood knee deep in the water & told me, 'No!' Then he hurled himself down to throw the biggest wobbly of all time. Half way down he realized he was about to go head first into the water & frantically tried to back pedal. His wail was heart rending ~ but he never threw another tantrum.
Liddy is a cat of another colour. A thoughtful & docile child we had a delightful few years with her but eventually the day arrived when she decided to test our mettle & threw her one & only wobbly. I do not recall what she decided to dig her little heels in over. I remember her standing there glowering thoughtfully before getting down on her hands & knees. Dearest & I stared at each other mesmerized as we tried to work out what our beloved daughter thought she was doing. Gently Liddy felt the hard wooden floor all over. Very, very gently she laid her head down & began to bellow. Dearest & I gaped. Eventially we realised this was Liddy's version of a full on tantrum. We couldn't help it. We let out a roar of delighted laughter. Mortally offended Liddy shut up, stared at us in disgust & took herself away to think some more. It was the only wobbly she ever threw. Liddy learnt early you catch more flies with honey than vinegar & has been plying the honey trade ever since.
1 comment:
I have a cousin who is a year older than myself and was over-indulged as a child. When I was about 4 or 5, my mom and I were in the store with her and my Aunt. Carla started "pitching a fit" as my grandmother would say, because my Aunt wasn't buying her what she wanted. Even as young as I was, I was embarassed to see herself rolling around on the floor and screaming at the top of her lungs. My mother looked at me and said,
"Don't you even think about trying that!"
I never would have either because my mom used the wooden spoon on my backside all the time and I know she would've worn it and my hiney both, out!
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