I am currently locked in a battle of wills. With an almost 5 year old. My husband and I sit staring across at him as he chews at a truly glacial pace....because at this point in the vegetable portion of his meal...his back hurts, his teeth hurt, his tummy hurts, he has to potty (we let him have that one and marched him straight back to the table).
side note: This meal has been going on for over 2 hours before you start judging the computer that now sits in front of me.
We have explained that, no, he is not an 80 year old with bad teeth,. Nor is he in his 40s with a bad back. He is 5 and he will be finishing his carrots and celery. It's not even gross vegetables. It's raw carrots and celery for god's sake. What is baffling is that he TRULY truly believes that if he delays or just doesn't want to, then eventually, he will get to have some dessert and be done. How could he have come to this conclusion? That just seems ridiculous to me...and so the battle continues.
I have to say that moments like this are probably the hardest part for the hubs and I in not having the primary custody we so badly would love to have. It's just impossible to not go to the crazy place where you say, Well, if he was here all the time, he'd be more disciplined or he'd understand the rules or yadda yadda yadda.
In the logical part of my brain, I know this probably isn't the truth. kids are kids after all. This emotional part of me constantly wants to reconcile these moments with some parental failing that could not have been ours. It's not fair, I know, but, hey, that's just how it is.
I have a feeling we are in for some serious reality checks when the wee pea arrives. If she is rotten, if she lies, if she won't eat her dinner and has all manner of fictional ailments...there will be no other parents to blame. It will be the two of us who look at each other, shrug our shoulders and then stare at her across the dinner table....waiting.
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