Spongebob....no pants?!?

Subject A

In this day and age were even Sponge bob will wear square pants, I find myself involve in a fight of wills with my 4 yr old son (Cole), since he start potty in the bathroom, he has found himself more relax wearing just underwear and no shorts/pants, the irony is that his favorite underwear is his Sponge bob SquarePANTS set.

On a positive note is that he will keep the underwear, on the negative is that I find myself hard to hide from him when I want to cry or laugh when very proud of himself he takes his privates out and says "look mommy, my pitito is big" for those that don't know Spanish check on Google for the word, it looks like when he had a diaper on, he couldn't reach into the package, now with more access it seems he found a new toy to show off. I am not reading into it, I know he is only 4 and he is just trying to be cute, and he has calm down and stop doing this exposure that often, but, I just hope he outgrows this stage, cause, what we find cute and funny at 4, 10 years later we find it as being a pervert and ready to go to jail for exposing himself. On a more positive note when we go out he will let me put pants on him and he doesn't touch or give me a hard time for wearing them.

Any thoughts on how to help me out to make him wear his pants?

Note. Don't mention this to anyone, he will kill me.

Smile! Is not the end of the world.

Have you notice that if you have a two or four year old kid, most of the cases always something becomes a drama and a live and death situation?

Case and point, my son Cole (4yrs old), runs out of snacks or drink, I say "no more, you already had enough", his smile turns into wining, I keep saying no, wining turns into crying, is like he is almost having a near death experience; this will go on until I give up...or if I am lucky, he will fall sleep crying because i dont give in, you get my point?

Then, I realize that we as adults show this kinda behavior sometimes. Case and point, woman (not me) wants new pair of shoes, husband says "we cant afford it right now", woman throws a  tantrum, husband says " try to understand", woman starts dropping tears in silence but in a way to make the husband aware of them, result, he gives in.

Not getting what we want all the time should not become a fight of wills with our love ones, you will not die of hunger or thirst if you don't get that snack or drink; your feet will not get a medical mystery for the lack of that pair of shoes.

Littering? Come on kid! you're 16!

          Image by Alan Stanton via Flickr

Today was a busy day, I stop in the Circle K close to me to grab very fast a couple of things, in my way out I see this kid, I believe he was 16 (guessing here), he was opening a package of gum, by the time I sit on my car seat he was almost finish opening the package, and with no reservations, he just drops the wrapping plastic in the ground.

I start thinking "well isn't he not old enough to walk the 5 steps to the trash and drop the wrapping there?", then I am thinking, "well maybe I should blame half of this to his mom to not teaching that making trash for others to pick is a no no".  Many probably think if is my business to even criticize this kid for such a small matter, and I didn't make it my business since I didn't make a sarcastic comment to him and went my way.

I will be honest, I am not the most "green" person in the planet, but this is one of the lesson I DO teach my kids,  I do flip when my almost 5 yr old boy drop some trash behind him, always explain that I will not pick up and is a  no no, and I always ask him to take stuff to the trash bag for me. If we are out I always take a little sandwich bag with me, and put any small trash that the kids make inside the bag, which goes inside my purse until I can get rid off. I think the small lessons in life to are kids, are the ones that will make them a better person when they become adults.

Tough Conversations with my kids.

     As a parent I try to shield my kids as much as I can from hard issues that are happening around them, you really want them to have their childhood as happy as possible, but sometimes the problems around you had to be explain to your children in a way the can maybe understand.

     In some point in our life I had to explain to my kids why daddy was at home every day when they come from school, and not working like normally he was; or what we were doing in a big office full of people waiting room for hours to ask for help until things are better. Thank God things got back to normal soon and life is good. But this make me thing how many time I gave my parents a hard time, or why until I got marry I realize in how much financial stress they were, I don't even what to mention their fail marriage.

     Recently in the beginning of the year I have to explain my kids why we have to visit their grandparents, actually since I had 3 kids, it was like this, for the 11 year old was "Honey, grandpa is in the hospital, he is really not good, I need you to be a big girl for me and keep it cool for your brother and sister"; the conversation with the 6 year old was "Honey, granpa doesn't feel good, so we need to see him and make sure he is doing better"; and with the 4 year, well, there was no conversation cause he is in a bliss full childhood and he would forget as soon I would say anything.

     This days the tough conversations come with my 11 yr old girl,  the issues are different, more when you talking to a girl that is growing up, they are conversations that I realize my mother never had with me, I think I am doing different approach and sometimes I feel like a coach instead a of mom, I know this conversations will not stop ever, but the oldest they get the harder it gets, and there is no manual to help me out. I just hope my judgment makes me say the right things.

Potty Training

With 2 kids on my belt in potty training you would think I should be able to potty training the third kid, wrong! The boy denied me the proud moment of saying he is potty training, what do I have to do, I mean, he understands the concept and he is almost 4 years old, he is way overdue, he laughs at me.