Monday, October 20, 2008

Light reading for parents of strong-willed kids

A month and a half ago, Rob told me I needed to read this column on Salon.com. When I finally got around to it yesterday, it had me in tears I was laughing so hard. At one point I had to collect myself, take a deep breath and dab my eyes so that I could see to read to the end. The title, “Is my kid a jerk, or is he just 2?” is a hint at the contents. I’m not sure if it will seem funny to most parents, but for Rob and I, it hit home. Fortunately Will has mellowed out enormously since the peak of his tantruming days but occasionally when he’s short on sleep, we witness the return of the 2- and 3-year-old beast within.

If your children occasionally or frequently become irrational, irate, power-hungry little balls of fury, you deserve to take a quick empathetic journey into the home of a writer named Christopher Noxon, whose reflections were triggered when his two-year-old pooped on his foot and then looked up at him with satisfaction.

1 comment:

shannon said...

Oh! Laughing, still. Thank you. I was watching Nora's ballet class through a glass window when Cavan, 3,attacked me yesterday, in front of another parent. He kicked me as hard as he could and then head butted me many times in a row and then licked my arm. I looked around, and at the other parent, and felt like crying out, begging for help. Out of control, out of the blue moments like that are so absurd it seems like the universe should stop for a second and let me catch up (like the slow motion after the author's kid pooped on him).
The author illuminated the strange feelings we have toward our kids, the love/hate, very well. I remember asking my husband if our first, now six and lovely, was manic. I was sure she had a personality disorder. Thank God I have my husband to talk me down and laugh at me when I start talking about how horrible the little devils have been or what monsters they've turned into. . .