Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Have You Hugged Your Kids Today?

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I woke up this morning thinking about what to blog about today. I had it all planned out to write about McDonald's, until I took my son to school. McDonald's will have to wait until another day.

Every morning when I'm taking my 7 year old to school, I see one of my neighbors dropping his daughter off, too. He usually gets there a little before me, so I always see him walking in front of me. He's a really nice person, and he's so cute with his daughter. When almost every parent just pulls up to the sidewalk and drops their kids off (like me), he parks in the parking lot, holds her hand, and walks her all the way up to the door. He ALWAYS gives her a kiss and a hug, then takes her pink princess book bag off his back and gives it to her. Kind of sounds like I'm a stalker, huh? It's just so cute I can't resist watching them!

This morning when I was dropping my son off, I noticed there was a father in the car in front of me dropping his kids off, too. I could see the three colorful hats of the kids in the car. My husband has been at work for hours by now. Is he a stay at home dad? How early did he have to get up this morning to get the kids ready. My son in the backseat didn't have a hat on. I was sitting there with wet hair from my shower. Maybe I should get up earlier and be more on the ball like him. Then as we got up to the drop off point, his car doors fly open, and he yells to the kid in the backseat, "GET OUT!". Then he yells to the kid in the front seat, "GO, GO!". The other kid in the backseat stopped to tell him something and the man looked thoroughly annoyed. The boys hat fell off on the road, and he barely picked it up before the man drove off.

Next, I pulled up to the drop off point. I actually could feel tears starting to come.

(Gulp) "Can I have a kiss?" (He doesn't like to kiss me when anyone at school can see.)

He kissed me.

"I love you! Have a good day!"

"OK. Bye mom."

Whenever I see parents acting like that to their kids, it just makes me so sad and I have to hug my kids. I'm trying not to be too judgemental, though. I'm not the most perfect mom. I lose my patience. Maybe he has a lot of stress in his life right now. Did he just lose his job? Did someone just yell at him? Did his kids do something REALLY bad? Maybe. But it's still so sad to see kids starting their day off at school like this.

13 comments:

Irene said...

I know! I always feel so sorry for kids whose parents seem so miserable. You are right, maybe there is a justifiable reason, but, especially when they are little, it seems hard to imagine what that reason is.

And yes, I usually hug my kids just a little harder after I see that.

Anonymous said...

I just hate it when I see something like that. It makes you wonder if he was having a bad day or if this is how he treats them all the time. I'm certainly not a perfect parent, but Zach and Madeline are THE MOST IMPORTANT thing to me. I try REALLY hard not to take my bad day etc out on them. We need to set examples.

I can't wait to hug my kids after school today...

Unknown said...

I was in the grocery store the other day, and this mom was just so mean to her little boy, that I couldn't imagine being like that with my children. It makes me wonder WHY!! I've had bad days, I may get a little cranky, but I would never take it out on my children.

In the morning when they wake up, the little ones, I give hugs too, and say Good Morning to them all, I give my son a hug good bye when I drop him off at school, and sometimes my teen daughter will give me a hug goodbye, but not everyday. I try to give her a hug at least once a day.
Then I give them a hug and a kiss before they go to bed.

~Christine@ AreWeThereYetMom

Anonymous said...

What I try to keep in mind, when one of my trainees act up; is there a reason for their behavior. The reason for this thought process is because I had a situation before where someone I trained before was being argumentative in class. I found out a couple of months later she died of cancer. So you never know what is causig people to act the way they do. Look how good your kids turned out. You shouldn't even qustion your parenting skills. Yo may not be perfect, but you are one of the best parents I know.

Ally said...

This is a great post. Thank you for the reminder to love and hug our children. :-)

Yvonne said...

I miss those days of hugging my kids when I dropped them off--16 y.o. don't let you do that at the school. But believe me, I take every advantage of hugs when I can get them!!!!

So sad to watch something like that--your heart breaks for kids that start their morning that way.

But, you're right, sometimes we have to stop and try to be more understanding--but it's hard.

Again, thanks for coming by my blog.

Kellan said...

That made me so sad too and made me stop and think about the times I have done that same sort of thing to one of my sweet kids. Thanks for reminding me that I need to hug them more often and stop screaming at all the stupid stuff. See you soon. Kellan

dawn klinge said...

That is really sad, but was a good reminder. I hope my kids always know I love them- I sometimes get short with them and then feel horrible.

ThriftyMommy said...

His frustration may have come from telling them 82 times to hurry up and they were making him late. Nevertheless, it's a good reminder to watch how we talk to our children and to try to start the day off right.

Lester R.N. said...

I used to see a lot of mean parents when I taught gymnastics. The kids were always glad to see me because we had fun and always had hugs for them if they wanted or needed them!!!

Zoe said...

mornings can be so difficult at my house. all 4 kids have to be at a different place and i have to be to work. i know i can get grumpy but i always make sure i hug, kiss and tell them i love them before they are out the door.

Summer Owens said...

I make it a point to tell Count Dooku I love him every time I drop him off at school. It helps us have a better morning when we start it off with prayer, too.

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