6 and 9

Six years old and nine years old are both significant ages in childhood. Both the 6 and 9 year olds start feeling a sense of SELF, yes, in CAPS. They are feeling, "Yes! This is ME. I am HERE." Which then translates into, "I don't have to listen to you. You should listen to me. I am HERE."


And well, that doesn't go over too well with the average parent/child relationship, does it?

We had a play date yesterday. My child being 6 and her friend being 9, there was quite a bit of "talking to" going on between us two mothers. (insert laughing so hard we are crying emoticon here).  At one point I was saying to D, "Listen, do not speak to me like that or you will have no pie." And I hear over in the kitchen, my friend's conversation with her daughter. "Oh, doesn't that sound familiar?" Her child, "Yes...." My friend, "And does it sound nice?" Her child, "No...."

Yeah!! It doesn't sound nice and it doesn't fly with us so CUT IT OUT!

Hah. Oh the growing pains. And along the lines of setting these children of ours straight, I really can't believe that I have come across the stories of two families that outright do not discipline their children. Yeah, can you believe that? I guess I should not use the word "discipline" I think the correct word to use here is "setting boundaries." I think, unfortunately, there are quite a few families out there that don't know how to "set boundaries." A friend of mine actually shared a story of a play date she had with a potential friend and at one point the other child was doing something unkind to her daughter and the new friend said to her, "If you are having a problem with what my child is doing, can you please talk to her about it?" At which point my friend had decide this new friend was no longer going to be a friend. I kind of second that - I don't need to be disciplining your child. I have my own child to deal with. But of course, having said that, I really don't have any problem "setting boundaries" with other people's children if I don't like what they are doing.

Meanwhile, in other news...yesterday was a monumental day in history. Gay marriage was approved by the SCOTUS. Finally.