A few weeks ago, I wrote an honest?and a little scary?post on Facebook about my fears that my son Sam, who was then almost two, would be labeled a bully. He was deep into a biting and hitting phase, and I heard another mom at the playground tell her kid to be careful around him.
“You should write an essay about it,” a friend suggested.
So I did. It was published this morning on the Washington Post’s On Parenting column.
Thanks as ever for sharing, reading, commenting. Your support keeps me afloat (in parenting, and in writing).
p.s. You might also like:
The Mysterious Work of Raising Children
Thanks Susie:
It must be hard to be inundated with prescriptive labels, good and bad.
Thanks, Jim. It is, though I feel like most parents don’t mind the use of terms like “angel,” “sweetie,” “love,” or “miracle?” ; )
Great article, Susie. I’m putting my comment here because it’s a bit of a sh** show in those Post comments:). I hope you’re ignoring the clueless ones. Love your honesty here. I think most parents should know it’s a collective process to teach our children together. Shunning or labeling do little to help. I can’t tell you how many times my 2-3 year-old looked me in the eye and peed on the floor, hit, screamed, etc. Keep up the positive reinforcement on the little one. Day in, day out–he’ll get the message and grow on it.
Hey Kelly! Thanks for the comment. I’m not reading the comments over on WaPo, but I got the gist. I’m with you on all of it, and sorry for feeling edified that your child too has acted like a monster. : ) I’m happy to report that Sam is WAAAAY better now than he was even when I wrote that. Fingers crossed…