Momservation: The apple may not fall far from the tree, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pick it up and huck it as far as you can.
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My daughter has been driving me crazy with her forgetfulness.
My daughter has been driving me nuts with her absentmindedness.
My daughter has been driving me bonkers with her tardiness.
My daughter has been testing my patience with her stubbornness.
It is really annoying that she is just like me.
It’s hard to get mad at a kid who is taking after all of your bad traits. Try as I might to set a good example and steer my kids down the path of exemplary behavior, there’s just no avoiding the DNA pothole in the road.
Here’s good irony for you – as far back as I can remember I’ve been forgetful. I would forget my carefully made lunch on the counter, the books I needed for homework in my desk, the unsigned permission slip still in my binder. Current day déjà vu .
Once my 4th grade teacher reminded us on a Friday that we still had school on Monday despite it being a holiday for public school kids (and my siblings). I forgot. Happily stayed home and played with my public school friends, enjoying the day off. When I went to school the next day I was humiliated by my teacher when she admonishingly made me admit I forgot we still had school. I was also bummed to miss out on Matt Carlson barfing on Jenny Smith sitting in front of him and being sent home.
I would try so hard to remember the important things, but my head firmly resided in the clouds. Like my daughter, Whitney, I was an excellent student but a creative soul. If a writing project was assigned for homework, everything else became background noise while I eagerly got a jump on crafting it in my head. If the day was overcast, I’d start thinking about the cool fort I’d make out of blankets once I got home. If it was a holiday time, a stray scrap could send me off imagining the cool seasonal crafts I could make out of repurposed material.
Did I mention Whitney is in her room right now making a duct tape wallet and roses instead of finishing her homework?
Whitney’s distractedness leads to her tardiness. She is Side-track Sally, Jr. We have raced out of the house late or nearly late because she stopped to play with something in her room instead of putting on her shoes; still needs to brush her teeth because she got caught up playing with her hair in the mirror; didn’t hear me tell her to turn off the Drake & Josh for the 3rd time because she was so absorbed in the show.
I would yell at her to get going but I’d see dishes in the sink and stop to put them in the dishwasher, or be racing back to my room with the car keys in my hand because I forgot to put on my jewelry, or losing track of time because I got caught up on Facebook.
This is why I’ve entrusted teaching the value of being on time to Hubby because he’s still working on me.
The worst apple/tree phenomenon though is her stubbornness. If I don’t budge and she won’t budge, it makes for an interesting showdown. Once we got mad at each other over something at the dinner table. We both retreated into our rooms exasperated.
When Hubby went to talk to Whitney, gently explaining that she should probably apologize to me for her behavior she rebuked him saying, “No. It’s Mom who needs to apologize to me!”
I like to think Whitney and I both have many other redeeming qualities. But where my faults are long ingrained, there’s still hope for Whitney. I plan on picking up her little apple and hucking it far from my tree so she doesn’t have to find a husband that puts up with her forgetful, absentminded, tardy, stubbornness because she’s kinda cute and pretty smart.
But, boy, it’s a good things she’s cute and smart.