Noisy Parents

One day at work I met this lady who appeared to be looking to start some trouble. She was complaining about this and complaining about that. She was screaming about what was fair and what wasn't. I was finally able to calm her down with my spectacular people skills. What it all boiled down to was that she thought a situation was handled inappropriately with her child. As parents we have all been there and there is nothing wrong with defending our child when it is needed. After the first meeting with this lady I didn't think much about it. However this first visit was quickly followed by a second and a third and a fourth. It had been about a week and I had already seen her four times. She always had a complaint and was out for blood. She tried to convince us that her son had all of these problems and that he needed to be treated differently and that if he even came close to getting a scratch on the playground that we were to call her immediately. The fact is that the only thing wrong in her son's life was that his mother was very noisy. This kid has now learned that he can cry to mommy or complain about something to get his way. If he feels sick or gets a scratch mommy comes running over immediately and holds him in her lap and usually ends up taking him home or to the doctor. I admit that it is ridiculous. I have often contemplated how to get this lady less involved. I thought about trying to find her a boyfriend to keep her occupied. The next time I saw her she actually had one and he looked like a whipped little puppy on a leash (poor, poor man). I then thought well maybe she needs a job so that she can focus her energy elsewhere. However that wouldn't work because thanks to Washington, D.C. she can live like a leech on society without ever having to lift a finger. This kid is in the first grade and to tell the truth I am wishing that there was some way I could pass him on to middle school early. If only he was Doogie Houser.

I think that some parents feel they have to constantly defend their children and create uproar when things don't go their way. While they think they're helping all they really are doing is making it a lot more difficult for their kids. Kids need to be able to deal with some of this stuff on their own. The longer kids are babied the harder life will be for them. I coach baseball and we made a rule on our team. If the kids have something that is bothering them they need to talk to us coaches. We want it to come from them. If we have parents complaining about something to us we bench the kids and let them know that it was their parents fault. This rule proved to be quite successful this year. Our players grew up a lot because they learned how to communicate and express their thoughts and feeling to us. They're learning how to handle their own problems. This gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment knowing that they can do things on their own.

I love my kids and hate to see them hurting but there are times when they need to learn to endure things. Life isn't easy all the time and the earlier they learn this the better. Why not allow them to acquire some of these skills at an early age so that life does become easier. Our job as parents shouldn't be to take away these difficult times but to be there to help them sort through them. I worry that every time a parent gets noisy that their child takes a few steps back from independence.