Categories
Kids/Parenting Ryan/Married Life

V is for vacuum

And not just because Hayden likes to do it. (Woot—less work for me!)

I’ve got just five days left for the A to Z blog challenge—and about 18,000 things to get done in the next two weeks. My mom went home today and I’m drained on all levels.

So, for a quick discussion: what’s your least favorite household chore?

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Saying please to kids

This isn’t one of the big debates in childrearing, but I’ve seen a couple opinions on this issue: saying please to your children. Not like “Please pass the potatoes,” but more like “Put your toys away, please.”

Some people opine that saying please implies that you’re merely requesting, not insisting. 2ly (and please read that as “two-ly” 😉 ), it undermines your authority as a parent. Lastly, it annoys them it puts you into poor bargaining position if they refuse.

Other people say that it’s important to teach our children to say please by example. Other people in the pro-please camp say that by saying please the first time, it makes you sound less like a petulant dictator. Finally, it makes you look (and feel) like you have the moral high ground if a child refuses, since you “asked nicely,” and they were the unreasonable ones when the didn’t comply

Personally, I do ask Hayden to do things the first and maybe the second time. If he doesn’t go along after that, though, it ain’t pretty.

What do you think—do you say “please”?

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Ah, young love

I was going to take a picture of the 3-4″ of snow that fell last night, but it all melted, so instead I’ll be playing catchup on pictures (I’ll tell you which one the title applies to, but I’m sure you’ll be able to guess).

two fisted drinker
Two fisted drinker. His grandma introduced him to root beer, if you’ll recall.

Hayden 13 months 076.jpg
That’s one really weird deformity.

Hayden 13 months 077.jpg
Tie monster!

(Cleaned out Ryan’s closet. This writhing mass now resides on the floor… on my side of the bed. Go figure.)

Hayden 13 months 081.jpg
Hayden’s new home

Hayden 13 months 083.jpg
Helping with chores. I think we had a picture of me mopping when I was about 2, so this runs in the family.

Hayden 13 months 087.jpg
Here it is, young love. Whiskers needs it.

Haydie actually did that all by himself today. He was whining and trying to pick the kitty up, so I had him sit down and placed Whiskers on his lap. Spontaneous hugs. Sweet boy.