Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Today Special For You...




While I was getting ready this morning, little bob came running in excitedly to tell me about this cool thing she was seeing on TV. "Look mommy, Look!!!" I ran out expecting to see Barney and some fun song or those creepy folks on that show Lazy Town...but that is a whole other story. Anyhoo, LB wanted to show me the Woolite Oxy Clean on TV. She says... "look mommy, they say it will make our carpets really clean?" Um...yah. So I don't know if I'm more horrified by the fact that LB is so easily and readily swayed by advertising on TV at the tender age of 5 1/2 OR the fact that our carpets must be SO dirty in her mind that she needs to drag me to the TV to tell me about carpet cleaner...?

Recognizing this, I decide to turn this into a life lesson and explain to her that people on TV and in ads are trying to sell her things and she shouldn't take their word for it but make sure to do her own research. She pauses for a moment to consider this and I'm patting myself on the back then she says "Mommy...can you turn up the TV?"

Nice, well, at least I tried and have put the idea in her head. I find that I'm constantly having to edit things in her life for her. Little life lessons all over the place. For instance, we are reading the Junie B Jones series. Junie B is a precocious almost 6 year old (like little bob) with really strong opinions. She yells quite a lot, says "I hate" about many things and is trying to navigate her way through kindergarten. As we are reading the book, I always stop when Junie B is not behaving well and have a little lesson about things like: treating others with respect, not throwing a tantrum, not using the word "hate" regarding people, etc. Sometimes this leads into a meaningful discussion but most of the time I'm told, in an exasperated tone, to get on with the book. I'm afraid that I'm taking the fun out of things for her and perhaps am overdoing it a bit.

It's hard because I want to have those conversations with her now, while she is young and impressionable, and I want to have them and repeat them often enough to have some impact on her when she has to make a choice later in life (no, not just about Oxy Clean...you know what I mean). But I don't want it to be to the point where she just tunes me out automatically when I begin to start a conversation with her. I know that I have years ahead of me full of tuning out, eye rolling, sighing, but I hope that I'm laying the groundwork to keep those lines of communication open in the future.

Because I know it will happen. I see it with my sweet, adorable, most precious niece, who I have always thought is extra special for her kindness and caring ways with others. She hit 11 and kind of started to get a little snarky...a little tude. Now she'll be 13 this week and we are in full-on teenager mode. The sighs, the eye rolls, the drama. I still see glimpses of her, like when she calls me to get a little love and attention when she has hurt herself and then that leads to what is going on in her life. Yep, there is my little sweetpea. I've worked hard at being involved in my neices lives and have had very similar conversations with them as I am having with LB now. It makes me hopeful that the hard work will pay off in the end.

So, there you have it. Off to find a carpet cleaner I guess...

3 comments:

Predo said...

I think your hard work will pay off for sure! I thank God everyday that my Aunts were there for me! Keep up the good work!!!!

HalfAsstic.com said...

HAHAHA! If you are worried about LB's opinion of the carpet now, just wait until she is giving you tude as a teenager! Oh, yes! The best is yet to come! ;-)

Suz Broughton said...

My kids believe every commercial on TV. We went into an AS Seen On TV store recently and you would have thought it was Disneyland or something.
I know what you mean about wanting them to listen. I think they are. But I know exactly what you mean.
Suz