Confessions from a Mean Mom

My children often accuse me of being the meanest Mom ever.

I admit that I struggle daily as a Mom. I am not a very patient person. I have raised my voice, lost my cool, and have had parenting moments that I would change if I could go back.

But those aren't the things they complain about.

Here are some of the reasons why my kids think I am super mean:

I make them eat vegetables and other healthy food. And I don't fill their lunchbags with Fruit-roll-ups, chips, candy, or soda pop.

I make them brush their teeth and hair. And use soap to get clean in the bath. And wash their hands when they come in the house.

I make them go to bed "early" on school nights (early being 8:30 PM).

I make them tidy up their stuff, make their beds, empty the dishwasher, clean the bathrooms, etc.

I make them do their homework and practice the piano. And learn theory.

I make them apologize and hug each other when they have a fight.

I don't let them play DSi 24 hours a day. I don't even let them keep their DSi's in their own possessions.

Oh, and I put Clara in time-out when she's naughty. I get all kinds of evil eyes when this is going on.

As you can see, I'm definitely up there on the Mean Mom list.

My own Mother has even accused me of being a mean - or should I say a strict - Mom. Because I make my kids wait until the cookies have cooled before they get to eat them.

Ironically, my kids are fine with the waiting part. They have seen homemade cookies so often that they think I'm mean because I don't buy them Oreos, Arrowroots, and Chips Ahoy.

Aaaaah, I just can't win on that one.

But that's okay, because the truth is... I make the cookies for Scott.

She Decided to Give Me a Taste of My Own Medicine

Yesterday while I was on the phone with our cable company, Clara found a bottle of Febreeze.

By the time I hung up she had sprayed it all over the hardwood floors, dining chairs and table, cabinets, and laptop cords.

You think with all that spraying, she would have managed to hit some type of fabric, but no.

I put her in a time out and started cleaning up the mess.

Pretty soon I heard Clara disciplining me from her chair:

Mommy! You go to bed right now!

You be grumpy! You go to your crib right now!

Okay?!

You really grumpy and you go to bed. You go to time out!

1... 2... 3!

Okay! You go to time out right now!

Learning to Bake

Samantha is looking forward to being old enough to babysit. Last week she decided she needed to practice by learning how to make cookies.

She made two batches of chocolate chip cookies, one on Friday night and one on Saturday.

I let her make them pretty much on her own, although I helped out with the oven.

Those of you who know me will know how hard it was for me to stand by and watch. I tend to be a teeny-tiny bit controlling in the kitchen.

Okay, I may have scraped down the bowl once or twice.

And I may have watched hawkishly over her shoulder to make sure that no egg shells dropped in by accident.

But I resisted every urge to take over completely and do everything my way.

Samantha was quite proud of her cookies.

Sorry, no photos of the finished product. We were all too busy eating them to go get the camera.

Time-out

I really don't like giving Clara time-outs.

But they seem to work well for her.

When she has this look on her face, we know she is ready to say sorry and get off.

In Clara's words... "Soooowwwy".