Punked

Aidan has the tendency to be a cry baby. And a tattle tale. Both of those things are character traits that I abhor, so I spend energy each day trying to undo them. Poor kid. Isn't a Mom supposed to love you just the way you are?

For months, when Aidan comes crying to me about something one of his friends did ("Mommy, Kristopher pushed me." "Mommy, Tristan spit on my shoe!"), I've told him, "STOP. If you're tattling, I don't wanna hear it. You can handle it yourself." Last week when Kristopher took Aidan's hat and wouldn't give it back, Aidan cried. That night, I lectured him: "If you cry, he'll just aggravate you more...it's a game to make you cry....big boys shouldn't be crybabies....yada yada yada." Then I finished my lecture with a sentence that I thought went in one ear and out the other: "Next time he picks on you, tell him, "Stop being a PUNK, Kristopher! Give me back my HAT!"
(What kind of Mom teaches her kids to call names?)

Tonight, as I sat in the next room talking with the adults, Aidan came sulking into the room, bawling, "Krithtopher....."

I stopped him cold, with my hand held up Traffic Cop style. "I don't wanna hear it, Aidan. Handle it yourself."

He slinked off, but before he was out of earshot, I heard him exclaim, "You're a PUNK, Kristopher! Don't do that AGAIN!"

I looked at Kristi, and we both burst out laughing. GOtta love a friend who can handle it when she knows you told your kid to call HER kid a punk!

In the car on the way home, I asked Aidan, "So, what did Kristopher say when you told him to stop being a punk?"

"Nuffin'."

"Was he mean to you after that?"

"No. It worked, Mom!"

Kristopher, 139. Aidan, 1.

Not that I'm keeping score or anything. ;)