Domestic Psychology

Minecraft <3

// May 9th, 2013 // No Comments » // children, play

I have lost count of the number of times I’ve read moms on social media declare that they are banning their child from playing MineCraft because their child “likes it too much.”

Is your child still eating and sleeping? If the answer is yes, then they don’t like it TOO MUCH.

MineCraft isn’t the first thing to captivate children and confuse parents. Children have fallen head over heels in love with other games, cards, collectibles, dolls, books, clothing, tv shows, movies, music, celebrities and colors. Do you remember World of Warcraft, Pokemon, beanie babies, matchbox cars, Tamagotchie, Pound Puppies, My Little Pony, Barbie, Legos, Pogs, Atari, Lemon Twist, Silly Bands, Troll dolls, CB radio, Crazy Bones or arcades? Ask your parents about YOUR childhood obsessions. Even better, ask them about THEIRS.

Children are supposed to like things. It’s okay for children to become so infatuated with skating that they sleep in their skates. There’s nothing wrong with wearing their favorite shirt day after day. It’s a good thing when they must learn everything about their infatuation and create imaginary stories to fill in the gaps in their obsession’s mythology. Encourage them to read everything written by a favorite author. Listen to their detailed descriptions of the difference between this card and that card.

Liking something too much teaches children about time and money management. It teaches them about prioritizing things and people. It helps them learn who they are and what they really need. Liking too much teaches children about love.

Do you really want to teach your children that they shouldn’t like things too much?

deliberate bruises

// April 21st, 2013 // 2 Comments » // children

Once upon a time, first aid kits included snake venom extractors. StacheMan was in high school when he learned what they do.

Professor Teen learned about venom extractors in middle school.

Snake venom extractors are now passé. Professionals discourage the usage of the suction devices. Sawyer will probably never know that such devices exist. That’s just as well. This week, second grader Sawyer joined his older brothers in the self-inflicted bruise club.

Sawyer’s first hickey.

brain drain

// April 5th, 2013 // No Comments » // children, sleep

Sometimes, Sawyer asks to snuggle. Most of the time, this means he wants to sit in my lap. I then carefully nudge him to talk, only to discover that he isn’t upset about anything. He just needed to be held for a while. I would put down a fire extinguisher and let the stove burn if Sawyer asked me for a snuggle. The snuggles mean everything to me.

Yesterday, Sawyer informed me as he left for school that he would need a snuggle when he got home. “This snuggle needs to be under the hot blanket.” Sawyer adores our nearly dead electric blanket (Gimli!) and I really need to get Sawyer his own electric blanket before next winter.

Sawyer arrived home from school and we tucked ourselves in my bed. Sawyer asked to play his current game obsession on the iPad. I decided that this snuggle wasn’t stress related and we proceeded to chat about his game.

“Do you know what cobblestones are?”
“Yes.”
“Well, they’re bunches of rocks all stuck together and I have 37 of them.”
“Cool. What do you do with them.”
“Nothing right now. I need to kill chickens to make more arrows.”
“Can you catch and breed chickens or do you have to hunt them.”
“Well, this one time, I captured wolves and blah-blah-blah.”

I still don’t know if you can have a farm in the game. The warm blanket and Sawyer’s soft voice lulled me to sleep. The next thing I remember is SuperTween’s face four inches from mine as she loudly announced, “I texted dad and told him you are sleeping.”

object memory is strong

// March 12th, 2013 // No Comments » // children

Sawyer: “No! I don’t want that blanket! I need a different blanket.”
Me: “You have been refusing this blanket for months. Is it scratchy? Does it smell bad? I need you to tell me what is wrong with it so that I can fix it.”
Sawyer: “The last time I used that blanket, I saw a spider on it.”
Me: “I can’t fix that.”

Sawyer’s “plan”

// March 1st, 2013 // No Comments » // children, gaming

“I put extra weapons in the guest file of the game we’re gonna play.”

SuperTween’s “plan”

// February 26th, 2013 // No Comments » // children, play

SuperTween typed up a plan for the weekend. I have three thoughts on her plan:
1. She has no sense of time.
2. She seriously underestimates 7-y-o boys.
3. Knowing how grumpy she is after a sleep(less)over, two nights in a row of sleep(less)over is never going to happen.

- – - – - –

#1 Invite Al, H and Mrs.P inside – 3:00
#2 Greet them and show them around the house – 3:15
#3 Say goodbye to Mrs.P – 3:25
#4 Play in my bedroom – 3:45
#5 Crash the boys’ party – 4:00
#6 Set up mattresses – 4:10
#7 Watch television and play until dinner – 4:20
#8 Eat dinner – 4:45
#9 Brush teeth, get pajamas on and set up a movie – 5:00
#10 Watch movie – 5:30
#11 When boys are asleep, PARTY!! – 6:00
#12 Collapse – 9:00
#13 Wake up – 7:08
#14 Eat breakfast (non healthy stuff) – 7:15
#15 Make breakfast for friends and family – 7:42
#16 Home Depot Kids’ Workshop, FINALLY! – 8:00
#17 Play and rake leaves until Al’s mom gets here – 8:20
#18 Ask to play at her house – 8:25
#19 Ask to have a slumber party – 8:30
#20 If yes check below for stuff to bring

LIST:
Rope,night stuff,costumes,
Fun stuff found in basement,
Art stuff,found in basement,
Get movie,
BE AWESOME!!!!

Barbershop

// February 18th, 2013 // No Comments » // children

“The woman who cut my hair remembered cutting Sawyer’s hair.”

Well, of course she did. How many seven-year-old boys sit back to have their hair shampooed, grin from earlobe to earlobe and say, “Ahhhhh” the entire shampoo? It was so loud that the other men getting their hair trimmed were giggling. Grown men giggling at a little boy who was so small, his mother had to help hold him at the sink, while he made it clear that it was the best shampoo ever.

“Your hair looks very handsome. Thank you for being still and cooperative.”
“She’s a really good hair washer. Next time, let’s just do that part and the sucker… ’cause I’m so good.”

not a contest

// February 15th, 2013 // No Comments » // children, parenting

“Don’t you think you go a little overboard on the Valentine boxes?”

No, I do not. I think that most parents do the best they can in whatever ways they can. Some parents grow all of their children’s food. Some parents travel the globe with their children. Some parents are full-time volunteers at their child’s school. Some parents write the checks that pay for expensive classroom supplies. Most parents do a little bit of many different things. We work together on school projects, verbally quiz spelling words while cooking, spend entire days speaking in rhyme and allow our children to use real tools while contributing to our home renovations.

We do what we can just like everyone else. We are all raising great children.

love

// January 16th, 2013 // No Comments » // children, pets

Hello 2013

// January 1st, 2013 // No Comments » // children, flickr