She had an amazing ability to NOT play with us. "Mom! Come here! Play with me!" (or whatever). "I can't!" she'd reply. "I have a bone in my leg!" And then she'd make us feel her shin bone and we would feel so so so sorry for her with that bone in her leg.
Another thing she'd do is turn it around on the tattle-teller. For example, if I came running up to her complaining that Pete had just hit me, she'd get super sympathetic and say, "Oh, poooooor Kaaaaady. Now you go and tell him you're sorry." And I would!
And you know how when you hurt yourself, and you run up to your mom and say, "it hurts when I do this?" and then you bend your finger or whatever? She would always say, "well, stop doing that."
Now, THAT'S good parenting!
My mom had the same line about "Well, stop doing THAT".
ReplyDeleteAnother of her favorites was when I would complain that I didn't feel well. She'd always say "You'll feel better at school." Half the time I DIDN'T feel better at school (I was always a sick kid), and then she'd have to leave work early to come pick me up.
I think we both know who showed who when it came to the "sick" issue.
Roxie said...
ReplyDeleteI don't have kids, but I'm always on the lookout for sayings to use when I just don't want to do something for someone. I love the bone in the leg. I will use it in the future along with my, "I can't, I have nails in the ends of my fingers", excuse. They could be mighty together.
I remember our mom taking my temp, gasping, and saying, "OH, NO!! You're normal!" When I was little I thought being normal was catastrophic.
ReplyDeleteAnother was when we fell and hurt ourselves we'd go running and crying. She'd gasp and ask if we'd hurt the floor. We'd stop crying to run and check.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, awesome, awesome. I also have bones in my fingers and arms. Face, too. I am SO going to use this.
ReplyDelete