1. I would never, ever, ever call him Bubba.
Ok, to explain: I live in Texas. The South of it, to be exact. I used to joke that if
you didn't know a white guy's name, just call him Bubba and 9 times out of 10, you would be right. It is either a name or nickname and it is rampant here, and it is associated with trailer parks and guys that walk around with their butt cracks showing. Guess whose kid gets called this regularly? Oh yeah.
Ha. Haha. Hahahahahahaha.
3. I would make sure to encourage speech. I would not respond to gestures or grunts once he was old enough to start speaking.
Oops. I actually didn't realize I was doing this. At first, I did it because he really
was too young to speak, and gestures and grunts were all he could really use to communicate. But then we both got into the habit of just communicating in this way. And now he is 16 months old, and he has yet to say a single word. Unless "Gah" counts. (We use "Gah" as a kind of Marco Polo to figure out where the other one is in the house. I say it or he says it, and the other responds in kind until we figure out where the other is. He has never not responded to "Gah").
4. I wouldn't call things baby words like "Binky" or "Juicy".
Ugh. It just happened! Because everyone else was doing it and I am a sheep. Although I have put the kibosh on other words, and made sure the grandparents understand that his penis is called a penis, etc. I do not want my child to grow up feeling as though a part of his body is wrong or dirty.
5. My kid would never be "that kid" because discipline.
Sometimes, he is that kid. And that's OK, because, you know what? Kids are humans that have yet to understand how to fully deal with emotions and sometimes you are frustrated in the middle of a restaurant and you're not sure how to deal with it so you scream about it. I totally get it. If it was socially acceptable, I would scream in frustration in the middle of restaurants sometimes, too.
What things would you NEVER do until you had kids and discovered that, yes, you totally do that now?
Ugh. It just happened! Because everyone else was doing it and I am a sheep. Although I have put the kibosh on other words, and made sure the grandparents understand that his penis is called a penis, etc. I do not want my child to grow up feeling as though a part of his body is wrong or dirty.
5. My kid would never be "that kid" because discipline.
Sometimes, he is that kid. And that's OK, because, you know what? Kids are humans that have yet to understand how to fully deal with emotions and sometimes you are frustrated in the middle of a restaurant and you're not sure how to deal with it so you scream about it. I totally get it. If it was socially acceptable, I would scream in frustration in the middle of restaurants sometimes, too.
What things would you NEVER do until you had kids and discovered that, yes, you totally do that now?
