I have encountered the same scenario in the general public over and over. It happens in the form of the disgusted eye roll at a toddler having a tantrum. In the snide remark about a lack of discipline in regards to the 5-year-old crying inconsolably. There’s something many adults in America can’t stand. Something that drives them batty and brings out the nasty in many of them.
They hate it when children act like children.
Who can blame them, really? They refuse to eat dinner. They throw tantrums. They roll their eyes when someone brushes their hair. They get completely overwhelmed when they’re exhausted and have little control over their emotions. They fight – egad do they fight. They get loud and rambunctious and make messes.
Then again, so do many adults.
And then there are the emotional and social problems. Children are on a completely different plane from adults. And try as I may, I still cannot get mine to come up to the level of a normal American adult. They have *no* idea how to judge someone based on their appearance. They assume every person is a life, equal in value and importance to theirs, and should be treated as such. I have yet to get them to understand how to get angry in traffic, or be rude to a store employee, or gossip about their peers. For the life of me, I can’t get them to worry about money, or question God’s faithfulness, or hold a grudge. Not to mention that they have absolutely no desire to bash political leaders on either side.
No matter what I do, I just can’t get them to act like adults. My sincerest apologies to the eye-rolling onlookers in the grocery stores and malls.
And people have no qualms about pointing that out. “Does she always act like that?” “Are you disciplining her?” “My kids never did that.”
I know, I know. I’m working on it. And in relation to these observations, I’m also working on teaching them to be judgmental and elitist. It takes time to develop those skills.
So please understand, I know how things look. My two-year-old can’t sit still, and she has no idea how to not immediately forgive any offense. My four-year-old ruins meal times with her food issues sometimes, and for the life of me I can’t get her to stop outwardly displaying love to her family, or making friends wherever she goes. And the eight-year-old. Don’t even get me started. Every morning is a battle over the hairbrush, and I can’t get her to stop helping her sisters, encouraging me to keep trying, or throwing herself passionately into learning as much as she can, about as many things as she can.
In fact, at this point in time, I’m starting to worry that they may never fit in with normal adults like me.
