Monday, June 14, 2010

Mom's Mantras



There are a few things that moms always say to kids. I've been doing this mommy thing for about 25 years. In the past, I had the privileged of caring for about 100 children in my home day care. NO, not at the same time. By law, we were only allowed to have 6 children under 5 in our care at once. Most of the time they happened to be 2 year-old boys, so five or six was quite enough for me. Oh... where was I? Mommy mantras

I'm not a Buddist and I'm not usually into the practice of repeating phrases over and over, but it seems that I've been unable to avoid it. There are a few that stick in my mind since recently, I have used them often, ineffectively, and they need to be rephrased.

Up the stairs and down the slide
It just makes safety sense at a crowded playground.

We don't throw sand.  
This is pretty basic. The amount of time we spend at the beach has caused this to be overplayed.

We only write on paper.
This is the one that stumped me. It used to work like a charm, but my last child has attempted to rewrite the rules.

I forgot to mention when you are holding the home made knife, that you stole from your big brother, you do not carve your name in the leather sofa. I am so pleased child that you remembered the uppercase letter and your handwriting is so neat, but this? Thankfully, I was walking by at the right time and avoided a mommy freak out. The couch is still in one piece and no one will ever know. O.k. new mantra, we don't carve on furniture. Notice I said on. Perhaps some day, we may carve furniture, if that is the direction we choose for a career. Semantics are quite important for a 6 year-old.

Which leads me to:

Not My Kid Monday

It wasn't my kid that was in line waiting to go to Children's church holding his nickel and penny to offer up to God. It wasn't my kid who after waiting patiently for 30 seconds, turned around to face the wall. It wasn't my kid who used his nickel to write his name in his neatest printing ever on the wall of the church. It wasn't my kid who added a pretty star to emphasize his name. Who knew it was so easy to write on a wall with a nickel? Thankfully, I also learned that anything written with a nickel erases very easily.  So now I must create a new mantra. I just can't figure out one to cover it all.

Keep your hands in your pockets until you are 18.
That should do it.

And yes son, your handwriting is lovely.

How about you, what's your overplayed mantra?











I welcome reader comments with open arms. I also understand if you aren't the commenting or hugging type of person, you can drop me an email at accidentallyhomeschooling@gmail.com.

8 comments:

Laurie said...

Lol!! :) You could name this post "yes, I do have boys!" I think (just think-I'll have to road test it) that "hands in the pockets" might work...

Congrats on being part of the TOS crew! I look forward to reading your reviews.

Unknown said...

my mantras....

walk!
focus!
stop jumping on the furniture!
do not get out of bed again!

ahhh....life with ADHD!

welcome to the crew!

Wendi said...

"We only write on paper"...yep, I use that one ALL THE TIME!

Tracy S said...

LOVE your blog!!! This post made me laugh!!! My favorite is "Stop jumping around, the furniture is on its last leg"!

Debra said...

LOL -- I love the idea of your new mantra, and I might just adopt it.

April said...

Very cute. I've found my self saying a few of these as well!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

One of mine is:

You get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

An appropriate and useful mantra in a variety of situations.