Tuesday, May 15, 2012

I didn’t tell her I’m treasurer of my Friday morning mommies group

Oh, you guys. Everyone knows all children are different, but it helps so much to have the internet to show you all sorts of different kids so you don’t get cocky. We all know an un-potty-trained 3 ½-year-old boy is not uncommon, right? Also, the ease at which potty training is accomplished has little to do with parenting skills, yes?

I saw someone today who, when she found out (by asking) Meg was potty trained at 2 ½, went on a rant about how her 3 ½-year-old nephew still isn’t potty trained. In HER DAY, as a working-full-time-AND-getting-her-degree single mom, she absolutely had to have her son potty trained by age 3 per daycare rules and she DID IT. Because no matter how much else was going on, it had to get done. It wasn’t even that hard! But her sister-in-law (the lazy bum) stays home and “just must not have enough motivation.” “Seriously, what’s the point of staying home if you’re not going to do your job as a mother? What else is she doing all day?”

It was so absurd it was hard to keep a straight face. I realize things were hard for her in a way I can’t begin to understand, but geez, that doesn’t mean her sister-in-law’s life is bon-bons and soap operas.

The kicker, though, was when she said snidely “I guess she’s just too busy with her mommies’ group on Fridays.”

6 comments:

  1. Ha! As you may know, I have talked to 4 different daycare directors in the past week, and they've all been surprised that my 3.5 year old boy is fully potty-trained. :)

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  2. Wow.

    I think people who've moved far beyond the infant/toddler years forget how difficult the milestones of teething, sleeping through the night, potty-training, etc. can be. I hope she's not sharing her hurtful comments with her SIL because that lady is likely crying in her pillow at night or secretly plotting to stab her.

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  3. A very good friend of mine did this recently. The thing is, she has never actually raised any children of her own. She just married a man who has three children, the youngest of which is four. She was complaining about someone else and her parental lacking because her almost four year old was not fully potty trained. I tried to argue with her for awhile and finally I just turned to her husband and he smiled like "I know, it's not worth the fight". Some people just have those judgements.

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  4. My mother likes to remind us multiple times that my sister was potty trained at 15 months. (My nephew was almost 4, Peanut a little more than 3 and my niece 2.5.) I finally got tired of my mother saying this that I told her she was rewriting history and it wasn't even possible.

    Everything was better in "my day." 30-some years has a way of erasing the bad.

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  5. My husband and I were talking about both sides of the coin last night - comparing his "rough schedule" with my "rough schedule" because we were both feeling stressed. But we logically deduced that the grass is always greener and that the other one had a tough time, too. Some people just refuse to see it from another perspective.

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