Last week, I posted about how maybe I'm more ready for motherhood than I thought I was.
Today I'm here to tell you that I'm definitely NOT ready.
This past Saturday, we had our football fiesta. It was lovely and quite the success [well, the Gators didn't get the memo on success, but that's another story]. The food was fantastic, if I do say so myself. The friends were... um.. well, that's what got me thinking.
We had a few of our usual Gator game-watching crew over. We also have another couple who we met at Fort Drum that is in town briefly for some training. It has been a good six or seven months since we've seen them and their kiddos last. Their daughter was 2 1/2 years old and their son was six months the last time we saw them.
When we had them over up at Fort Drum, we did some minor child-proofing before they came over, but it wasn't anything major. Now that we've acquired some nicer furniture and other things that small children see as toys [but really are not -- such as a glass hurricane jar with a candle and shells in it] the child proofing process was much more extensive.
It was amazing to see their family and see how much their kids have grown. I really couldn't believe it. Their son is walking and their daughter is going on and on with talking. It was, however, nerve wracking to see their daughter running around opening doors to rooms that we had shut for a reason [the office/our room/guest room do not need to be played in!]. She was also able to open the fridge, which led me to rearrange the layout of items after I saw her going for multiple frosted cupcakes. She wasn't afraid to move our kitchen chairs around to reach up on our counters and grab things.
She and her brothers were crazy about the bananas we had on the counter and I just had to stay in the kitchen when their son wiped banana-covered hands on those pillows I had just made a couple weeks ago. I just cringed.
My husband much better about taking it all in stride -- all of the stuff can be cleaned up -- they are just things after all -- but it was hard for me to not feel my ovaries just shrivel up and die watching all of it. I love my "stuff" and I like that it is shiny and pretty. I like that it all is in a place and I don't have to worry about it. I don't think that the kids were badly behaved -- their parents aren't shy about discipline -- but I don't really know many toddlers to know if this is just how they are.
Did anyone else go through this before deciding to have kids? Do you have kids and have avoided this? Do I just need to baby gate off the house to prevent kids from rummaging through the kitchen?
Posts
13 comments:
Oh, gosh! :( Sorry for your bad experience. I didn't think about any of this kind of stuff before getting pregnant or deciding on kids, but I figure that's something easy...childproof really well before the kid is here, that's all. We can use gets in some portions of our house, but not all, so if we are still here when our son starts crawling and getting into things, we may have to deal with some redecorating. :)
Ouch...I would not have handled that well. Good thing we're in no hurry to have children.
Um, I have a baby and I'm still not sure I'm ready for the dirty hands touching my nice things stage. Haha. The good news is? They dont come out with dirty hands touching all your stuff. They grow with you. Thats my hope in all this :) haha. I'll learn to handle it with time.
I don't know much about kids but we keep the dogs in the kitchen/garage while we aren't home. When they are allowed in the living room they are supervised. And the best part is that they listen. If they get into things they aren't supposed to be into I tell them "no" and they stop. Kids I don't think are as easy to train.
LOL. I've never been so concerned about the things as I have been the time. (Like...Oh I'd love to go to Hawaii. But then I'd have this kid to worry about......maybe we should wait a while to reproduce.) Selfishness on my end!!!
Oh no! haha. I know it will be a long time until Mister and I have kids, but sometimes at work seeing little kids run around and act like little monsters it makes me think never ever! But no kids are the same and parenting is a huge part of how kids act too. Just have to remember, things can be replaced. :)
Um...you handled it much better than I would have. Kudos to you and sorry for your pillows!
I know what you mean :-) One of our closest friends over here has two adorable daughters, both under the age of 2. I love having them over, but the other day I was having a cringe-moment when their oldest took raisin-goo covered hands and smeared them all over our leather couch, then licked her fingers and started banging on the windows. She wasn't being naughty - just playing! The difference, I think, is the parents. Our friends are really attentive for the most part and caught her right away and cleaned it up, but that's just part of the deal when you have little kids around!
I don't have kids and these are the same thoughts that I have when I even think about having them one day. I like things in it's place and things clean.
Wait...were the parents actually present? This sounds like a failure to parent!
I wouldn't worry so much about having to childproof. You're going to give birth to an immobile lump...it'll take a while for them to be all up in your shiz! And by then, you'll have caught on and baby-proofed
I've perused the comments and am commenting as what seems to be the only parent.
And our kid (he's 3 1/2 now) would never ever have been allowed to behave that way. We've always been comfortable taking him to our friends houses, even those without kids, because we keep an ey on him, we always take toys for him to play with, and well because we've taught him that he isn't allowed to act certain ways when he isn't at home. Heck, he's never even acted at home the way this kid did at your house.
Big fail on the parents. They were probably hoping for a time to relax, but they should have known better than to let there children run free at someone elses home, especially someone's home that doesn't have small children.
Really, kids are trainable and moldable. It takes work, but consistency pays off.
A friend of mine was altering my dress for the Cav Ball and she brought her 13 month old son. My house is in NO WAY baby proofed. His hands were in the cat food, the dog food, flipping water bowls, hands on breakables. Yeah, I'm not ready for motherhood either.
As a mother of three children (7, 4, and 2) I have to agree with a couple of other commentors... my kids are not allowed to have that kind of behavior at home but most especially not as a guest in someone else's home. If our kids had been acting in that manner, we would have promptly taken them home. That sounds high and lofty but I don't mean it that way - we just have expectations for our children and their behavior and... we want to keep friends, not chase them away :)
It's amazing how quickly you adapt when you have a child. I wouldn't worry a bit if I were you.
Post a Comment