Bull's Hits

that's what shea said: Officially renaming Halloween "Parent Judgement Day"

sheasylvia:

So your kid doesn’t say “thank you?” Or is still trick-or-treating at eighteen? Or immediately complains about the candy while still standing on my front porch?

Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate your parenting choices.

And while I congratulate you and your friends for doing the trick-or-treating…

Things like this rile me up for some reason. I’ve spent the last 6 years, by choice granted, raising 2 kids. I’ve spent the past 4 years raising 3. I don’t know how hard that is to imagine, but I’ve been a part of every fit, temper tantrum, meal, bath, bedtime, bike ride, whatever, I’ve been around. A person who has seen my kid for 1 minute just doesn’t get to judge me. I know my kids didn’t visit Ms. Sylvia’s house, I also know that my kids ages 6 and 4 didn’t say thank you to everybody who gave them candy last night. If they said thank you to 80% of the candy givers, I consider that a success. Kids are known for being honest as well, often forsaking the petty white lies we tell as grown ups. For the most part honesty is drilled into kids’ heads from the time they understand such things. If the worst thing that becomes of that honesty is them bitching about a pack of Good’N’Plenty’s then that’s a battle won by the parents.

Ms. Sylvia spent $10 on the evening and 2 hours of her time. I’ve spent thousands in both dollars and hours. If she wants to judge me based on some perceived slight by kids under age 12 then I think it says more about her than the parents.

That being said, it’s a pretty good point about kids trying to walk into the house. That kind of goes against everything parents try to teach their kids these days. It would be great if we had the trust in our neighbors we used to have. But, we don’t anymore and that’s a shame. I don’t know how to fix that, but being a good neighbor and being a little less judgmental of those with kids can bridge the divide a little bit.

I don’t know much, but I do know that being a parent is an extremely difficult and frightening thing. It makes me a bit sad that I’m being judged by people who have chosen to forego or haven’t yet enjoyed the experience. But, at the end of the day, I know that I’m graded by my kids’ experience instead of the outsiders’ 5 minutes lifetime exposure to my kids.