My Mom Always Said....

NEVER SAY NEVER!


You know that list of things you said you would NEVER do BEFORE you were a parent? You know the one...

The list full of things you saw other parents doing...things that disgusted you, things that made you internally judge others on their parenting...things that made you think friends, relatives, or people in the store were despicable because they did these things?

When I worked at the daycare, I would come home and complain about certain things the parents did and my mom would say "You better make a list of all these things you swear you're never going to...because I guarantee you're going to do some of them one day!"

I would just walk away laughing.

Admittingly, I have done a few. Some, I haven't, but whose to say I never will, huh?

Here is my list of things I said I would NEVER do as a parent...but already have:

(I'd love to hear of things you've done that were on your list)

1)Put my kids on a leash (okay, I haven't exactly done this, yet, but I bought one and we've brought it with us...just never had to use it yet)

2) Let my kids use a pacifier for a long period of time. I didn't want them to use one at all, but Maria took hers until she was 1.

3)Give my kids something to eat or drink, just to get them to be quiet.

4)Let my kids eat hot dogs, bologna, or other disgusting processed meat.

5)Let my kid watch hours of TV, while I am trying to "get stuff done".

6)Bribery. (most of the time, it doesn't even work)

7)When I worked at the daycare in the 2 year old room, I couldn't stand the idea of kids wearing pull-ups as a potty training device. I thought they were expensive, they were just like a diaper, and were ineffective. "Put them in underwear," I would say to the parents. What did I care if they peed on the tile floor of the classroom? It could easily be mopped up and I didn't have to do their laundry. I couldn't understand why parents wouldn't want to get them potty trained ASAP. And in everything I observed, pull ups didn't work.

So, there I was at Wal-Mart on Saturday morning...strolling down the diaper isle. I couldn't believe I was actually considering purchasing a box of pull ups for Maria. I've tried underwear on her with the plastic pants over ...but it still gets all over the floor. We just bought new couches and my fear is that she will pee all over them. She seems somewhat interested in using the potty, but there are days when she won't even sit on it. (here's where the bribery came in...and didn't work)

So, now I'm considering, yet, one more thing I said I would NEVER do.