“Mum. Leave me alone, I can do it all by myself. I am a big girl/boy now. Go away, let me do it!”
“Mum – I can’t do this. Can you heeellllppp me pleeeeeasseeeee? I’m still only little.”
In your opinion, parents out there, what’s the worse statement, if you had to pick from the above?
Because this past week Keira keeps swapping from whiny like in the second to perky (dare I say bossy?) like in the first. I cannot decide which does my head in more.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I think they both are equal in the headache department. With my girls I [nearly] always tell them that I’m not listening until they change their tone of voice, maybe soon I’ll be able to do that with the boys too?
Cheers
Guess what. It doesn’t change much. Only the vocabulary changes, and the stuff they do and don’t want you to help them with. When they are teenagers, they still want to do everything themselves and want their own way until it’s too ‘hard’ (meaning they’re too lazy..)
Mind you, like Maddy, I just don’t tolerate whingey, whiney tones, never have, and thankfully at least my kids now don’t ‘whinge’ – not like some I see that should be old enough not to. (Some tweenage and teenage girls I see whingeing at their mothers! – sheesh… I could slap them!) I used to say to mine “Stop whingeing. I can’t stand whingey kids.”
It all does your head in at times!
I don’t know! Amy is still only little so I don’t get any of that yet. I will be referring back in 6-12mths or so though.
I am with Maddy & Tracey. Both my girls know better than to whinge it gets them nowhere really fast. My bubba’s favourite is just ‘me do, me do, me do, me do and so on like a broken record’. Even when I have to intervene and untangle the arms and legs from what ever it is that she is trying to put on or cleaning the lastest thing that the big girl is attempting to pour. Thankful for tiles!!!
Although I can understand the emotion in your blog. Even without the whinging the frustration levels (on my part) get really high!
i go the first …wistfully looking back I was always sad when my little boy didn’t want me to help him … though I dislike the whiny voice that accompanies requests for help.
We have a no whining rule. OF course, it’s ignored, but we won’t help her until she stops whining. They use both equally. Frankly, I like it when they try to do it themselves, because eventually it means I WON”T be wiping bottoms or emptying potty seats or changing diapers. As to the rest, well, like Tracey, I’m sure they’ll still need my help even when they’re grown. I still go to my Mom for help occasionally (especially if I’m trying to cook . . . ).
LOL – Janet, I didn’t think of it like that……..hmm, now what do I still do to my mum??? The latter!! Oh, dear
Otherwise it seems I have a constant juggling act ahead of me it seems! Thanks guys