Happy Mother’s Day?
Nothing says Mother’s Day like your 2-year-old driving you to tears. Tonight at dinner, Falco said to me, “Go away, Mommy. Leave me alone.” I told him that it wasn’t nice to say things like that and if he did it again he couldn’t have a cookie (which I baked earlier and he was begging for throughout dinner). He told me again, “Leave me alone,” so I took away his dinner, which he wasn’t eating anyway, and told him to get down from the table with no cookie. I’m sure there’s no way that punishing my kid for pushing me away could backfire.
As soon as I got him down from the table, I went outside and started sobbing in the backyard. This is my baby. He used to want only me for everything, so it cut deep for him to tell me to go away. This is the first time he’s ever hurt me with words like that, and I know it’s just the beginning. I think I preferred it when he hit me if he was upset.
While writing this, I remembered that Mowgli in The Jungle Book says, “Go away! Leave me alone!” and turns away exactly like Falco did to me. I just bought him that movie a couple weeks ago, and he loves it. He watched it this morning, so he was probably just mimicking that. If movies are going to teach him crap like that, I think we’ll go back to only watching Oswald, a show about being over-the-top polite and friendly.
Matt’s giving Falco a bath and putting him to bed tonight because I was on the verge of crying every time I looked at him. I’ve got to toughen up if I’m going to deal with him telling me he hates me when he’s a teenager.
Cara said,
May 10, 2009 @ 8:02 pm
I sympathize. My two-year-old says the same kinds of things to me. “Go away. Give me space. Leave me alone.” Don’t take it personally; it’s just them asserting their independence. I think it makes them seem so feisty and even bratty, but deep down, I know she’s just being two. It does suck though. I hope you had a nice Mother’s Day otherwise.
andi said,
May 11, 2009 @ 9:09 pm
Thanks, Cara. It helps to know that my kid isn’t the only one saying stuff like that. He said it to me again this morning because he got mad that I wouldn’t let him carry his very full, glass plate to the table. I realized that it’s reasonable for him to get mad at me for not letting him do what he wants, and it doesn’t mean our relationship is crumbling. Also, I want him to leave ME alone sometimes too! (I just don’t tell him so.)