Am I Really Going to Toughen Up My Polite Kids?
Submitted by GO_Mommy
Having managed to keep four-letter words out of our everyday life, and having held my temper (when blowing a gasket was my first thought), and having miraculously nurtured my kids into polite, sweet children, I have to consider toughening them up for their own good.
For example, one of my kids was upset that a boy (her age) had yelled at her to do something. She stood stunned for a moment and then came to tell me. I told her to ask him to take it down a notch and ask her again, but the boy's mom rolled her eyes and said, "Sensitive, hunh?"
It makes me a little angry to think that my kids could come off as "sensitive" to other children and their parents when they are just confused about different social structures. We definitely stress compassion and manners in our house, so their confusion is understandable to me.
They don't have a sassy comment for every situation. They don't have the thick skin that kids with older siblings get. They aren't rough and tough, but does that really make them wimpy?
A few good friends think so. In life, we have to listen to our friends about some things. Do I listen about this? I don't know.
I want to keep the compassion and sweetness, but now I have to help them build a hard shell to protect it.
It kills me that I'm going to have to toughen up my kids just so that they can co-exist with kids that are seen as self-reliant and cool because they watch tv shows beyond their age and pretend to be teens when they are only children.
But that is the reality. It is either toughen them up or watch them get plowed down by the herd!
Ick.
Submit!
