Thursday, October 16, 2008

Welcome to the Counter-cultural revolution...

Hey there,

I'm unsure exactly when this started happening, but when did parents start treating their children like they were breakable? Or like they were perfect? They're either special, or they have special needs. Why can't our kids just be kids?

So I'm launching a revolution, a let's let our kids get dirty and screw up once in a while. Let's let them fail. Let's let them pick their own clothes and look ridiculous. I'm going to call this movement Mommunism. Why? Cause I'm the mommy and I said so.

I can't actually take credit for any of these ideas, most of them came from my mother, whom I'll be able to quote freely, because the likelyhood of her reading a blog are non-existant.

So, to start my mother had a couple sayings that have brought me great joy over the years, and I'd like to share them with you.

--- Whenever my mother finished introducing her three kids, she'd smile at us and add...
"I had more, but they whined"

--- When my mother didn't want to be disturbed, she'd envoke the "Smoke or Blood" rule, which was that unless there was smoke or blood, she didn't want to be bothered.

-- My mother once came home to a sink full of dishes. She didn't say a word, she just walked over to the sink and started tossing them across the room. Made quite an impact, literally. (She later admitted that she picked her least favorite ones out first)

So please! Let's continue this movement. Please post your favorite mommunist quotes, and share your best kid stories. Because we're the mommies and we said so, that's why.

4 comments:

Dejiana said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dejiana said...

What I want to know is when did we moms become such germ-o-phobes?!? Whatever happened to the 3-second rule or “kissing it up to God”? Our televisions have become infiltrated between the hours of 10:00 am and 3:00 pm (the stay-at-home mommy hours) with commercials for products that kill, eliminate and destroy germs on contact. The ads scream, “Arm your family against infection!” “Protect your kids from germs!” You see moms feverishly wiping down the swings and slides at the playground; moms with weighed down purses stuffed with hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes; parents in supermarkets armed with colorful shopping cart seat contraption-thingys designed to keep babies from being exposed to the lurking “shopping-cart-handle disease”.

Look moms….germs are not the boogieman! How do we ever expect our kids to build up their immune systems if we never allow them to be exposed to germs in the first place?! Believe it or not, there are such things as “friendly germs”.

When my daughter was a baby, she was allowed to play in the mud, dirt and sand at will and even tasted each element at least once--which was a much better “teachable moment” then me hovering over her and never allowing her to explore that natural curiosity. I also allowed her to be exposed to the kids with the runny noses, sneezes and coughs, and yes, she got sick from time to time. But today, at the ripe old age of 11, I can say that she has literally not had a cold or flu since the age of 2! Hey, that’s a total of 9 years without the dreaded co-pay!

Now granted, there are viruses and bacteria out there that are dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. But I am referring to the basic germs that our bodies need to be able to build healthy immunities and fight unwanted germs quickly and efficiently. Here’s a nutshell description of how a healthy immune system works: The unwanted guest germ enters our bodies and is instantly identified as an uninvited intruder. Our bodies then take the time to build up the necessary immunity to that outsider then finally kicks it to the curb! Then, when the freeloader tries to return, our bodies recognize it as that unwanted foreign visitor who drank up all the Kool-aid and blocks it at the door!

So moms, I implore you: Put down those handiwipes, stop buying into the delusions of disinfectants and ignore the Lysol lies!! And remember that great old adage, “God made dirt and dirt won’t hurt!”

Annie said...

My mom's favorite thing to say when things went awry was, "Life's what happens when you've made other plans."

Years later I found out that quote was attributed to John Lennon. Weird.

2Corinth1:4mom said...

"You need to get on that bus and go to school. There is no more love for you here!"