Sunday Funnies

Alright, so I missed a few weeks. :( I simply forgot about the installment until Scott reminded me just the other day. Oh well, it isn't the end of the world.

As a parent, I often wonder if we're doing things right. Sometimes, Tristan can be so unruly. Most times I can pinpoint why he acts up, such as no nap, he's hungry, etc. When I can't pinpoint a reason, I just figure that it is the age. After all, he is two (he'll be three next month). When he is naughty and acting up, Scott and I use a few means to discipline him (timeout, apologizing, redirection, etc), but we have never spanked or hit him. We both agreed that physical violence as a means for discipline just wasn't our style. Scott had a bad experience as a child and, well, I'm not a violent person by any means - so, I don't even think I am capable of raising my hand at our children (or anyone, for that matter). But as Tristan gets more defiant, I wonder if spanking isn't all that bad. After all other parents do it, right?

Well, yesterday something quite amusing (and somewhat not amusing) happened. It makes me feel more confident as a parent, too. Let me explain...

Scott needed a new headset for his computer. Scott goes to Walmart. Scott takes Tristan with him so I can work on dinner without him under foot.

While Scott was in the electronics section browsing headsets, Tristan was sitting in the cart. A parent nearby happened to be disciplining his child, who happened to be close to Tristan's age. He spanked his child (with quite some force). My son gets his mean eyebrow face and defiantly speaks up.

Tristan: no hitting, it not nice!

Parent (to Scott): You need to get your kid under control

Scott: Well, my son seems to think you need to get yourself under control.

Parent: I don't need to listen to this.

The parent proceeded to walk away, Scott, with a smirk on his face, proceeds to browse through the headsets. Meanwhile, the nearby photo center employees (who witnessed the whole ordeal), told Scott, "Wow, you have a well behaved kid!" within earshot of the offending parent.

The situation is both humorous and serious. We don't condone spanking with our children. We emphasize to our son that hitting is wrong. He obviously has learned something from us. Which is good. Very good. I think it is humorous, because our son had no qualms telling off an adult that he was doing something wrong. Our son, in the midst of witnessing something that has never happened to him before, something that can be somewhat scary (seeing an angry adult spank/hit a kid), still had the guts to tell him that it's not nice and give him the mean eyebrows (his mean eyebrows are adorable). What is impressive is that this is the same child that I had to drag, yes drag, kicking and screaming through the mall the other day.



Now, imagine these mean eyebrows* telling you "no hitting, it not nice".
*picture taken April 2007. Only good picture we have of Tristan with "mean eyebrows". Apparently, most of our pictures show a happy, smiling child. Go figure.