Incidentally, talking about the kids....
Apr. 20th, 2008 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
My mother, a while back, inundated the nieces with stickers. She had a whole box of foam "princess" stickers. They're very... uh... princessy. And foamy. And stickery and sticky as well.
You can imagine what they thought of this gift, and what I thought of this gift. (I always tell people, reaching for presents for children they don't know, that one can never go wrong with craft supplies. If you *like* the parents, get crayons and paper and smocks, and if you *don't* like the parents get markers, and paint, and lots of stickers. People laugh, but I really mean it! The kids, of course, will be happy either way - but nobody in the world can miss the oh-so-subtle declaration of war inherent in an unopened box of stickers.)
So the stickers have been shuttled around a lot, and the niecelings never really have had a chance to play with them, because, duh - stickers.
They got into the stickers on Friday. And I saw them with their little sticker earrings, and it took a while for the thought to sink in that if they have sticker earrings, it follows that they must have stickers.
I took away the stickers, and then began the arduous process of determining where the stickers had come from, and why.
Not so arduous - Ana's the only one who could have gotten them from where they were. Unfortunately, Ana's also the one bright enough to blame it on her sister. It wasn't until I had both of them reach up to where the stickers had been that she conceded the point. Then she attempted to tell me that she'd lied to protect her little sister - "because when you give her a time-out, I'll come save her from time-out!" (Even though, of course, she knows that that doesn't work.)
With that settled, I thanked Ana for being honest, pointed out that she would not, therefore, get a time-out for lying... and sent her to sit down for stealing the stickers in the first place!
Turns out, in our second talk, that she'd taken the stickers to "put them on the walls in Mommy's room so when Mommy comes home she'll be happy and say "Oh, there's stickers on my room, they're pretty!" and she'll be happy!"
"Wait - did you put stickers on Mommy's walls?"
"Not y- no."
"Not yet?"
"Yeah"
"Did you put stickers on your walls? On ANY walls?"
"Not yet."
"Good. Because if you'd put stickers on Mommy's walls, she would not have been happy. It would have made her sad."
"No, I wanted to put them up so she-"
"I know what you wanted, but Mommy would not be happy to find stickers on her wall. It would upset her very much."
"Oh. I guess it's a good thing I didn't do that yet, then."
I keep reminding myself that she means well, but sometimes it's hard.
You can imagine what they thought of this gift, and what I thought of this gift. (I always tell people, reaching for presents for children they don't know, that one can never go wrong with craft supplies. If you *like* the parents, get crayons and paper and smocks, and if you *don't* like the parents get markers, and paint, and lots of stickers. People laugh, but I really mean it! The kids, of course, will be happy either way - but nobody in the world can miss the oh-so-subtle declaration of war inherent in an unopened box of stickers.)
So the stickers have been shuttled around a lot, and the niecelings never really have had a chance to play with them, because, duh - stickers.
They got into the stickers on Friday. And I saw them with their little sticker earrings, and it took a while for the thought to sink in that if they have sticker earrings, it follows that they must have stickers.
I took away the stickers, and then began the arduous process of determining where the stickers had come from, and why.
Not so arduous - Ana's the only one who could have gotten them from where they were. Unfortunately, Ana's also the one bright enough to blame it on her sister. It wasn't until I had both of them reach up to where the stickers had been that she conceded the point. Then she attempted to tell me that she'd lied to protect her little sister - "because when you give her a time-out, I'll come save her from time-out!" (Even though, of course, she knows that that doesn't work.)
With that settled, I thanked Ana for being honest, pointed out that she would not, therefore, get a time-out for lying... and sent her to sit down for stealing the stickers in the first place!
Turns out, in our second talk, that she'd taken the stickers to "put them on the walls in Mommy's room so when Mommy comes home she'll be happy and say "Oh, there's stickers on my room, they're pretty!" and she'll be happy!"
"Wait - did you put stickers on Mommy's walls?"
"Not y- no."
"Not yet?"
"Yeah"
"Did you put stickers on your walls? On ANY walls?"
"Not yet."
"Good. Because if you'd put stickers on Mommy's walls, she would not have been happy. It would have made her sad."
"No, I wanted to put them up so she-"
"I know what you wanted, but Mommy would not be happy to find stickers on her wall. It would upset her very much."
"Oh. I guess it's a good thing I didn't do that yet, then."
I keep reminding myself that she means well, but sometimes it's hard.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-04-21 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-21 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-21 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-21 02:53 pm (UTC)