TOPIC: How to Start Over?

See that is the total ironic situation in our kids...I was a perfect angel according to mom...Jen on the other hand was a bit of a handful...so what do we get as far as kids...YUP - three handfulls!<br /><br />

A truer word was never spoken by our chief.<br /><br /><br /><br />Widseth

DOH!  Widseth's been-there-done-that wisdom SCARES me!  I was a hell-cat...Jeff keeps saying he hopes our kids aren't like me, 'cause that payback will be HELL!  <br /><br />I do think from my experience with my parents that Widseth has hit the nail on the head.  I loathed them and everything they did (especially my poor Mom) and once I got my brain back (around 20 just like Widseth said!) I was like "Oh, man...I'm so sorry"!  I'm closer to my parents now than ever.  I call Mom about 3 times per week.<br /><br />Lori

You'll do fine, Lori.  Love 'em and teach 'em while they are young and when they go out and test for a while they will usually return to the base.  I read some studies about this a long time ago.  Parental direction is critical until about the age of 12.  Then kids go out and test what they've been taught.  They will turn to their friends, but more specifically they will turn to other adults who are significant in their lives--scout leader, teacher, religious leader, etc. and that adult will become more of a source to them than their parents.  It is important to stay involved and make sure there are good scout leader, teachers, etc. that help reinforce the base you have built in younger year.  And there is nothing wrong with a good teacher taking them in good directions solidify their base.  When the brains do come back they are even more closely tied to you and good values.  It is like the Mark Twain quote--"When I left home at age 18, my dad was the dumbest man I knew.  When I returned at 26, I was surprised at how much he had learned."<br /><br /><br />Widseth

Hey not all of us girls are little monsters!!!<br />My mom said I was her sanity with the three boys.<br />Of us kids I'm the one that speaks mom, I started housework at the age of two trying to help mom with folding laundry and dusting when she had walking pnemonia I didn't do either probably very well  but I tried! And I was informed that at the age of 4 I was 'missing for hours', as I sat in my room with headphones playing cassette tapes and reading along in 'My Book of Bible Stories'. I've been housebound since 13 and helping take care of the house since then. During my teenage years, my dad and my brothers all worked, my mother had to drive my younger brothers so they could work, so I was the one that did the house work, did the laundry, took care of the critters, made supper and my schoolwork. I never went around saying I hated my parents. <br /><br />And I would appreciate if you wouldn't make all of us girls sound like we were little monsters.  :sad5:

We all know you're saving it up.

<br />We all know you're saving it up.<br />

<br /><br />Dazzy - just Quote Henwy on that when your Volunteers don't behave properly! You've got two decades of monster stored up in you, ready to unleash. That ought to keep 'em in line! <br /><br />(grins & bats eyelashes)

Next year I'll be 30. So technically I've got almost 3 decades stored up.  :angel12:

Well, DD the study didn't include pixies.  And I've never raised a pixie--I specialized in imps.<br /><br /><br />Widseth

LOL! Widseth you're too cute. hehehehe *smiles*

I have only two for experience, but I am convinced that it is not so much boys vs. girls, but the second child phenom.  The second seems more the hellion in their attempt to keep up with the older siblings.  <br /><br />After that, I get the impression that parents become somewhat numb to the differences and they all look much easier.  Hence the "what effort is one more" viewpoint.<br /><br />

Having three - I can say in my case the third is definately getting away with more than the second or first EVER did...but then again he is the baby and is so darn cute!!!<br /><br />