critiquing the mamacita

Do NOT mess with Mamacita.

I do not like to have our parenting critiqued, especially when trying to teach my children a lesson.

When my daughter strayed from my side today after swimming lessons, I called for her nicely once, twice...and the third time I turned on the "I-am-so-serious-you-had-better-get-your-butt-over-here" voice, to which she of course ever so promptly responded. I continued to simply do her and her friend's hair, blowing it dry before having to head back out into the cool January air, as I am not going to scold her in front of a locker room full of strangers; I am not into publicly humiliating my children. The lesson can wait for later.

So then a grandmother comes over and greets K, and wishes her a nice day, then looks at me and tells me I need to calm down. As politely as my boiling blood would permit me, I told her through clenched teeth that she was wandering and, by the third warning my voice gets not-so-nice in those kinds of situations. She responded that she used to yell at her children, too, but now wishes she hadn't so much, and that now as a grandmother she doesn't have to yell at all. I, in turn, retorted that, as a grandparent one must be granted certain prerogatives that parents simply are not allowed.

A great discussion of the dangers of wandering off in a public place out of my view in a room filled with strangers ensued in the car on the way home, as I wanted my daughter to realize precisely how scared I was, which required the locker-room use of my not-so-nice voice.

However, this entire experience leaves me absolutely shocked and astounded as to the fact that people are so afraid to step on their children's toes anymore. If parents are not the ones to scare the living daylights INTO their children, whose responsibility is it? I will not raise two spoiled brats who will not listen to and who will walk all over their parents. That will, I am sure, come naturally in time (teenage years?). I will, however, appropriately let them know when they have stepped out of line, in private and/or in public, and it is not anybody's job to undermine my authority in doing so.

Shame on you.