I feel like we've given Cam and Mitchell a long enough learning curve, here. They've had Lilly for approximately five years. (I think. It's hard to tell because she aged up 2 years over one summer when they downgraded to Lilly 2.0.)
It's time to get real with them.
I mean, they're terrible parents, right?
They let that turdwagon get away with everything. I get they're excited to have a kid and everything after a long process and are just so grateful to have her, but come on. There is such thing as tough love. And not-letting-your-kids-turn-into-entitled-daddy's-girls.
She's kind of a terror. I would hate to be stuck babysitting her. She has never once been disciplined appropriately. The most she ever gets is "now, sweetie, let's not do that..." or "oh no maybe she is getting her terrible behavior from us and we need to start acting better."
Ugh.
She sasses them constantly, never does what they ask her to do, disrespects other adults...it's time to lay down the law with that kid, and, y'know, not give her a powerwheels convertible because you feel bad for not having a cookie with her over the phone and proceed to let her crash it inside the house.
These are not hard parenting concepts. I know I'm not a parent, but I have successfully babysat (and/or run a two-year-old Sunday school class) hundreds of times and never once let a child crash a powerwheels car inside the house. I don't feel like that's too much to ask of you as a parent.
I think she's going to end up being a bully. I'm willing to bet she doesn't play well with others at preschool. She's that kid who thinks everything is hers and has never heard the word "share," isn't she? That kid is always the worst.
I was hoping someone out in the world who loves me would have put together a montage of all her sass on youtube, but alas, I did not find one.
What I did find is this:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHdAjbCKlQM]
OMG. Y'all. She is like this ALL the time.
Is this skit actually a little TOO real? I'm asking. (But really I'm telling. It is. It's at least a warning sign of things to come.)
So Cam and Mitch, how about a little less "you're the most special person in the world" and a little more "life's tough, get a helmet?"*
I quote Tina Fey [in Bossypants] when I say,
Is this not the absolute worst thing you could instill in a child? They're the most important person? In the world? That's what they already think. You need to teach them the opposite. They need to be a little afraid of what will happen if they lose the top of their Grizzly Adams thermos.
Lilly needs to be even just the tiniest bit afraid of what will happen if she loses her Grizzly Adams thermos. That's all I'm saying.
Are you on board with Cam & Mitch's passive parenting or do you think she needs to get a time-out or two every once and a while?
*copyright Boy Meets World circa 1998.