Yesterday, like a conceited little know it all snot, I blogged about the importance of saying no. And I have to admit, I was feeling rather cocky afterwards. Like a know it all parent ... after not even a YEAR.
At dinner time, Liliana started fussing some. She does the thing where she screams for no reason. She's been doing it for weeks. She's not crying. She's just screaming. For fun. Lovely.
So last night she started her screaming thing. Evan and I could hardly understand eachother as we were trying to discuss how our days went.
I decided it was time to start teaching her the word "shhh." I put my finger over my mouth and said "Liliana NO. shhh." She started figuring it out. Evan and I felt pretty darn good about ourselves. She, like a wonderful and good child quieted down. She seemed a little perplexed, but we figured it was time to start teaching her that screaming in pubic isn't ok.
Later in the evening, I was hugging her and realized she felt awfully warm. I told Evan and he said she felt fine to him. Sometimes I overexaggerate things, so I chalked it up to that and kept on with our evening.
Fast forward to bath time. As I'm undressing her, she STILL feels warm so I apologize to Evan for not believing in his doctorly advice and stick the themometer in the ... you know where.
Bam. Fever of 101.9.
I told my child to quiet down and "no" and "shhh" and she was screaming to me that she didn't feel well.
I should win for worst parent of the year.
I'm home today with her because even after Ibuprofen last night, she had a slight fever when she woke up.
And today, after another hour of being on medicine, she's STILL running a slight fever.
So I suppose the point of this post is ... don't always just say "no." Sometimes you should consider that they might be trying to tell you something.
Like my parents said ... and they are so right ... there are NO books with all the rules on how to parent. But from now on, I'll try my best to step back and ask myself "am I saying NO for the right reason?"
In the mean time, I'll be making Strawberry Cupcakes while she naps ... maybe eating some of those in the afternoon will let her forgive Mommy!!!
Park City Utah
2 years ago
I've got a good one. Obviously I don't have kids, but I remember my mom was telling me about a co-worker's story about his daughter.
ReplyDeleteApparently this girl (she was about 10, I believe) had a tendency to over exaggerate injuries. One day she fell on her bike and was screaming that she thought her arm was broken. Apparently, her dad was tired of taking her to the doctor to be told that she was absolutely fine and just crying wolf - I guess this happened SEVERAL times. So I guess he lost his temper and said "Fine. I'll take you to the emergency room, but if you're exaggerating again and there's nothing wrong, I'm going to spank you."
They took her to the ER and I guess somehow the doctor found out about what he said, because when he came back with the X-ray results he said: "Well, you don't have to spank your daughter. Her arm is broken".
Obviously, he felt like the shittiest parent ever. So, at least you didn't do that! Definitely not worst parent of the year. :p
Aw, poor baby :( Hope she feels better soon! I love babies, but that time before they can clearly express their needs is so hard...trying to read their little minds, ha!
ReplyDeleteAww, poor baby. There are some reasons to say no and others not to. It's o.k. it's not like you knew.
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