On Becoming my Mom
LA Daddy | March 3
This is for any of you who are fairly new parents and you’re stuck with the realization that you have become your parents.
I’ve realized for quite some time now, but what’s really getting to me is the repetition. I’m reasonably sure my mom repeated the same words and phrases over and over again, but I don’t remember her doing it this much! I’m this close to taking L.A. Toddler to the ear doctor to get her fitted for a hearing aid.
I’ve been doing my own little informal poll and these are my numbers for the first two months of 2009:
- Number of times I started a sentence with “Don’t” - 227
- Number of times I started a sentence with “No!” - 438
- Number of times I started a sentence with “Stop!” - 127
- Number of times I started a sentence with “Untie your grandmother!” - 2 (well, 2 and a half. The third time, I never got it all the way out of my mouth…)
There are many more examples like this but it really drives me crazy. I’m getting to the point where I don’t even look up from whatever I’m doing. I can now pretty much scold on auto-pilot.
Yes, yes, I know. This is all just payback for how badly I tortured my poor mom. She tried to curse me - told me I’d grow up to have a son just like me some day. I laughed at her when I had my second girl. I told her her curse didn’t work. I only had girls! So there! Pttttthh!
She just laughed a mildly maniacal laugh and wandered off.
She got me. I’ve got little female versions of me running around my house. And I’m using all the same words she used to use when I was a tot. The curse continues.
I can’t wait until I remind my girls that they’ll end up with kids just like them. Some day. Some day soon…
Thats pretty funny. You don’t remember your mom telling you those things that much, and that is precisely whyshe did say it that muich because it went in one and out the other. Just as is now happening with your kids. Errr, everyones kids. All our kids. Ahhhhhh!
I’m just going to make a recording of me saying, “No. Don’t. Stop.”
I’ll put it on loop.
Yeah, doesn’t everybody get this periodically, where you discover that you’re constantly clucking and scolding around the children? I feel bad for the stream of “No. Don’t. Stop.” that I try to bite my tongue and not over-parent them from time to time.
Let’s face it, if they’re ignoring us, our voices will become even more irrelevant through repetition!