Today was Madilynn's kindergarten Thanksgiving program, which, if I could write it as cute as it was, I would be quite famous by now. The teacher let them all have a few seconds at the beginning to wave at their families in hopes that they wouldn't do it through the entire show. It worked, which makes me wonder if I should let Emma and Donovan go ahead and try to kill each other for five minutes before we get in the car each time, and maybe I won't want to drive off a cliff, which, luckily, is hard to do on the prairie.
I was hoping that Ninja Truck would solve this problem, what with all the seats and stuff, but apparently not.
Or maybe if I let the kids color on the walls and steal food and throw things at their siblings after dinner, they won't be inclined to do so until midnight every night.
On a completely unrelated note, sort of, my kids had Thanksgiving with my in-laws on Saturday. I was to drop them off and pick them up, which was fine with me, because I really needed a break. But when I got back to pick them up, I got questioned by my brother in law on what sort of table manners I was teaching my children. It seems that, right in the middle of dinner, my two girls and their cousin, who is right in between their ages, took off their shoes and started licking each other's feet.
Ok, here's the thing...I realize that my brother in law was probably kidding. But there have been so many times that I have picked my kids up to hear things like...
"Well, I hope you don't mind, but I told the kids that we don't talk about poop at the table...you're probably used to it, but I'm not..."
"I told them that the rules at my house are different and it's not ok to throw food when they're at my house..."
"I had to have a talk with them about not pouring their drinks on each other...I know you have your own set of rules, but I don't like messes."
Wow.
Because you see, my children never act that way at my house. And our rules, especially at the dinner table, are very strict. I don't like the implication that my children are using horrendous manners because I am teaching them that way...has it occurred to anyone that perhaps they are testing the boundaries when I am not around? I guess not....
Don't get me wrong, my children behave in a manner that drives me up the wall at least fifty percent of the time, but never at dinner! And never because I have encouraged them to act that way. Why would I ever send them over to my exes or his family's house with instructions to be on their worst behavior and show everyone else what I'm dealing with on a day to day basis? Would it benefit me at all to have them go over there and ruin dinner or a carpet or something? Would I get any pleasure out of knowing that nobody else can handle for one day what I deal with 24/7????
No, Interwebz, the answer is no. Stop shaking your head at me. Stop it.
