Day 289.

Friday, October 16, 2009.

I am grateful for humble pie. Isn't it yummy?

I take Noah to a soccer class each friday morning while Dylan is at preschool. He absolutely loves it and looks forward to it all week. He runs like crazy, kicks balls around and enjoys being part of the group, listening to the coach.

As you will sometimes have in these little tot classes, there is one child who has a really hard time staying on task...okay, that's a major understatement. He does exactly the opposite of what the coach wants him to do - for the entire hour. Now, I have had that child before - namely Noah in gymnastics! He never wanted to do what was the proper group activity at the time, and it was hard for me. I just wanted to encourage him to be a part of the pack and listen and follow directions. But it was hard!!

So, fast forward to soccer when he is totally the kid who is at coach's heels all the way through class. When coach says sit on your spot, he is the first one with his bum on the floor. When coach says run to the other side, he waits for "go!" When coach says wait your turn to kick the ball, he patiently waits. But not Christopher. Christopher is "that kid" that every parent doesn't want to have in a class situation like this. And I was trying to be empathetic for the grown-up (which I think is his grandma)...but it was hard for me to do because of one thing. She was making empty threat after empty threat, and never did he see the consequences of his actions! See, I just have a really hard time with that one. I am NOT a perfect parent, and never will be. I make many many mistakes, admittedly, every hour of every day. But, my parenting pet peeve is empty threats. I have witnessed how empty threats lead to such disrespect for adults, and I just can't stomach them. (If you ever see me give my child an empty threat - kick me in the face.) So, I was having a really hard time with this situation - watching the kid misbehave and disrupt the class (which is small - only like 4 or 5 little kids) and watching the grandma shout out empty threats.

At one point last week, I had this thought, "Geesh, I'm sure glad that kid isn't mine!" What a terrible thought, no? So, guess what came back to bite me? Yep, who's kid was running away from coach this week?

You guessed it...Noah.

But, at least I wasn't making empty threats. :)