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My last two interviews have me questioning if this is the “new” norm for parenting.
I interviewed another family last night. The parents allowed the child to run all over my furniture, run up and down the stairs (I don’t put the gate up for interviews after hours) and when they asked the kid to clean up the toys, he screamed bloody murder. DCM casually said “He will scream if you ask him to do something he doesn’t want to do.” All I could think was, so you don’t discipline the kid for it?!
The mother goes on to say that if the kid doesn’t like food, he’ll spit it out onto his plate… and she then proceeded to casually demonstrate how he does it.
Then I ask the infamous “How does the child nap?” question. Mother says, “Well he will need to lay down with his cup and a blanket. He usually doesn’t sleep but if you pat his butt he will. Sometimes he sleeps in his toddler bed and sometimes I have to put him in a pack and play.” The kid is 2YO. I say, “Cups stay in the kitchen and I am not patting his butt to get him to sleep.” She looked at me like I had three heads.
The final “nope” was when the man (not the child’s father) tells me that they “want to get him into daycare to prepare the kid for preschool. We want him to learn how to sit down and be with other kids.”
Sorry guy, it’s not my responsibility to teach the child what you’re wanting. The kid should know these things before coming to daycare.
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Another example of the lack of discipline I’ve come across recently:
DCK4.8 was standing on the ledge of my toy box several times one day. Redirection didn’t work so he gets sent to time out at the end of the day. Kid begins hysterically crying. Annoyed, I tell the kid “Knock it off - that won’t work for me.” Kid stops crying and finishes the time out. DCD arrives later, I tell the kid to tell his dad why he ended up in time out. Kid starts the crying crap again. I roll my eyes and tell DCD what happened. Instead of telling the kid to knock it off and backing me up, DCD says “Do you want me to buy you a new toy box?” WHAT!?!
I respond, “When he breaks it, yes! The toy box isn’t broken right now but for safety reasons, the child shouldn’t be on it and he have to be told not to stand on the toy box multiple times. He’s almost 5, not 2!” DCD then proceeds to baby the child because Heaven forbid the child has rules to follow anywhere.
I don’t get it.
I interviewed another family last night. The parents allowed the child to run all over my furniture, run up and down the stairs (I don’t put the gate up for interviews after hours) and when they asked the kid to clean up the toys, he screamed bloody murder. DCM casually said “He will scream if you ask him to do something he doesn’t want to do.” All I could think was, so you don’t discipline the kid for it?!
The mother goes on to say that if the kid doesn’t like food, he’ll spit it out onto his plate… and she then proceeded to casually demonstrate how he does it.
Then I ask the infamous “How does the child nap?” question. Mother says, “Well he will need to lay down with his cup and a blanket. He usually doesn’t sleep but if you pat his butt he will. Sometimes he sleeps in his toddler bed and sometimes I have to put him in a pack and play.” The kid is 2YO. I say, “Cups stay in the kitchen and I am not patting his butt to get him to sleep.” She looked at me like I had three heads.
The final “nope” was when the man (not the child’s father) tells me that they “want to get him into daycare to prepare the kid for preschool. We want him to learn how to sit down and be with other kids.”
Sorry guy, it’s not my responsibility to teach the child what you’re wanting. The kid should know these things before coming to daycare. ___________________________________
Another example of the lack of discipline I’ve come across recently:
DCK4.8 was standing on the ledge of my toy box several times one day. Redirection didn’t work so he gets sent to time out at the end of the day. Kid begins hysterically crying. Annoyed, I tell the kid “Knock it off - that won’t work for me.” Kid stops crying and finishes the time out. DCD arrives later, I tell the kid to tell his dad why he ended up in time out. Kid starts the crying crap again. I roll my eyes and tell DCD what happened. Instead of telling the kid to knock it off and backing me up, DCD says “Do you want me to buy you a new toy box?”
WHAT!?!I respond, “When he breaks it, yes! The toy box isn’t broken right now but for safety reasons, the child shouldn’t be on it and he have to be told not to stand on the toy box multiple times. He’s almost 5, not 2!” DCD then proceeds to baby the child because Heaven forbid the child has rules to follow anywhere.
I don’t get it.
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