Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Tired Mom Tired of Well Meaning People

I hate hate hate it when seemingly nice well meaning people try to tell me what to do with my kids. There was an older woman who was picking her cat up from the Spay Clinic at the same time I was picking up Nutmeg (a few days ago), and I had Danger Boy and Kid Catastrophe with me. The nurse (vet assistant?) was explaining that Nutmeg needed to stay away from other pets, stay inside, and to not be handled too much for 5-7 days while he was recovering. The older woman said "but especially stay away from the children!", as though the children were such a danger compared to the other animals she had at home (which she said she did) that she was supposed to keep her cat away from.

The kids did not notice, because they were too busy looking to see how Nutmeg was doing in his cat carrier, but I noticed. I felt like giving her the finger (you know, my pinky finger up her nose!) and then telling her off, but I'm a nice person (sometimes) so I just smiled politely.

Why do people feel the need to stick their noses in how you run your house and watch your kids (around a sick animal in this case). Do I have "MORON" written on my forehead in a special ink that only old women with good intentions (but big mouths) can see? Older men seem to know when to keep their mouths shut, they just shoot me dirty looks when QQ throws a fit in public. Annoying, but easily ignored. And, more importantly, will I turn into these old women when I've raised my kids? What makes people do this? How do I avoid it? GAAAAAAHHHH!

10 comments:

Mary said...

Hm, I think I probably wouldn't have said anything myself, because I am terribly wimpy, but I think I would be tempted to say, "Thank you, I know my children are small. As you can see they are still alive today. My guess is that I keep a pretty good eye on them." I bet you anything old people glaring at you when the children throw a fit either have never had any themselves, or forgot how their own children behaved. There's no real point in getting worked up over these people, who are they really? Nobody to you, so who cares?

Mary said...

PS, I hope Nutty Kitty feels better soon.

timpani76 said...

I warned everyone at work the other day that if they ever recounted horror stories about their kids and then said to me, "just you wait," I would be saying in my mind, "don't try to wish your children's problems on mine!"

timpani76 said...

That was Erik in the above comment, not me!

Mary said...

I don't think it's people wishing their kids' problems on you. They're just saying that your kids'll put you through the ringer too.

Karen said...

It starts with pregnany!!!! You're not going to be working? How are you going to live?? My response is, "Meh." My least favorite nosey-comment? "You say that NOW, but when you have a baby, you'll feel differently." This is concerning things like homeschooling, not working, having lots of kids, etc. Drives me bonkers.

Renae said...

I feel for you! I hate it when people glare at me in the store when my kids are behaving badly! Like yeah, I'm having a great time with them yelling and running around and climbing on things. "You try it someday, stupid lady, see how good You are at it!" Grumble

Mary said...

Well Renae, if you weren't just a "breeder" having children so you can indoctrinate them on your hate, and/or milk the welfare system for all it's worth, you wouldn't have that problem. I love how people act like having more than 2 kids makes you a blight on society (ok, I stopped at 2, but that was a personal choice, I think people should have as many children as they can care for or want). Those people would say they would never have 5 children, and therefore would never have to try living in your shoes. You know you're an awesome mom. I dunno, I'm pretty good at shrugging off stuff like that, maybe even to the point of being slightly oblivious. As long as I'm minding my own business, I never have to notice the glares I get when my "angels" misbehave.

timpani76 said...

Ooooh Karen! I hated the pregnancy doomsayers! They spring out of the wood work and they all have horrible stories.

The worst part about kids misbehaving in public is that there are people glaring at your for not disciplining your kids, and then when you start yelling or swatting bottoms there are people glaring at you for that!

Ignoring them really is the best policy, because in the end it's all up to you how you choose to deal with your kids anyway.

timpani76 said...

Good point Mary, I never thought of the really annoying people who are glaring at you just for having kids at all (no matter how many kids you have, there will be some people who will tell you it's too many!).