Yup, it sounds mean, but let me explain. My nephew is 6 years old, and my brother-in-law, his mother (my sister), and I are trying to toughen him up a little bit, because he's turning into a bit of a whiner. Usually when kids whine, parents tend to cater to them to a point. In an effort to teach him a little bit about life, how you can't always get what you want, how you can't always win, and how you have to be patient, we're being a little bit tougher on him.
He called himself a "loser" because his mom won at a fun game. He failed to see that although he lost to my sister, he beat me, my cousin and another person. He said, "I quit because I never win!" in a really sad voice to which his dad replied, "Well with that attitude you won't win. You have to be persistent and keep trying, and you'll win. And if you don't win, you'll know you tried your hardest."
He then pointed out how his uncle (that's me) never cares if I win or lose because I have so much fun while I'm playing. (Random fact 1 - I try to make everything fun. Everything. Waiting in line. Food shopping. Walking. It's a good ADD skill when you get as bored as I do.) I mean I'm a hyper competitive person, but I like having fun way more.
The story that I'm referring to, however, is this. My nephew left one of his dive sticks in the deep end of the pool. He was all dressed to go swimming, the sun was out, but his attitude was horrible. He fought with his mom for about 40 minutes about how he didn't want to go swimming, even though he clearly did. He just didn't want to go alone. So me being the awesome uncle I am, ran without any hesitation or without anyone asking, ran to change into mu trunk even though I had just taken a shower. I said, "If I change and have to get the dive stick myself you're not getting back."
"It's no fair," he replied. My sister asked why. "The water's too cold." It was not. He then said, "Mommy? When you were little, did you ever have to ride a big person ride by yourself?" "No, Logan." "Then why do I have to go into the pool by myself? It's not fair!" By this point he was almost crying, and my sister started counting in that harsh tone. "Don't rush me!!!" he replied very angrily. "It's not fair!" to which I said, "You know what's not fair Bud? Starving kids in Somalia and midgets that can't go on the rides we went on today!" My sister laughed and said, "You know what's not fair Bub? That your uncle went on all those rides with you when he gets motion sick. He took a shower, but changed so you don't have to go swimming alone."
After about 20 minutes of coaxing, he finally went into the pool, which was not cold. I threw him around like a shot put from end to end for about 30 minutes. We then went insides, and my sister and I had a good time re-telling the entire story. Kids, don't you just want to hit them with a bag of oranges?
No comments:
Post a Comment