Monday, August 20, 2007

My six year old son called his father "stupid". Father was trying to get him to go brush his teeth, when son was watching some side-splitting episode involving Ned Flanders on Youtube.

Some low level yelling, threats of ass whacking thrown around, and son ended in tears.

The debriefing session:

I know it is frustrating being a child. You need to do as you are told even if you don't want to. But you cannot say bad things to your parents. It is not okay.

I know.

Do you think it's okay to call your father stupid?

No.

So why did you do it?

Because I wanted to watch the computer and he didn't let me!

And why didn't he let you?

Because he said I need to go brush my teeth.

And that is reasonable right? Youtube will not go away, it will still be there tomorrow. But if you don't brush your teeth they will rot.

Yes, I know. But I will get new teeth, right? These are milk teeth.

..... yes... but... eh... still... you should get into the habit of taking care of your teeth, even if they will fall off anyway.

Okay.

It is frustrating not to get what you want, but getting what you want all the time is not good either.

Why?

Because.... eh... it is not good for ... for your character. No one gets what they want all the time. Hardship and frustration builds character.

But I get so angry!

Yes I know! So. Next time, when you get angry at your father, or me, or anyone, instead of calling them stupid, what can you do?

.... I can go out with my friends and have a beer?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

There may be other issues going on with your son in terms of anger management, impulse control, etc., but I'm just going on what's in this post (no offense is intended, I'm not attempting to score points or anything, and my wife and I don't have any children nor plan to have any) and ...

Why is it such a big deal that your son wanted to wait a few minutes to brush his teeth? Why not let him watch the YouTube vid first? You guys were right that the video will be there tomorrow ... but his teeth wouldn't have rotted out of his jaw in 5 minutes either, right?

I'm also a bit surprised that their father seems to have lost his cool so easily when his son called him "stupid". Unless there's a lot of unstated context to the exchange, which is altogether possible, it sounds like your husband went all Cartman "Respect Mah Authoritah!" on the young guy.

http://respect.ytmnd.com/

Eh-choo mui mui. said...

i'm not gonna comment on your parenting skills, but like i said before...

your sons are HILARIOUS. "grab beers". i'm laughing here!

Jamie said...

They ARE funny, it's true. I just can't wait till they can buy their own beer though.

krntsng said...

DAMN RIGHT he's gonna have beers with his friends! Hahaha