What "parent" thing do you that you never thought you would?

[sasha]

I don't think I could have known about the little changes you go through when you go from expecting a baby to having that baby in your arms, and sometimes I catch myself doing stuff that, before having children, I never thought I would do.

For example, I have licked my thumb and wiped my children's faces when they were dirty (we were out, and I was getting them out of the car and noticed how grubby they were!)

And the other night, Sebastian took hold of this book we've been reading every night for the past week, so you know he really likes it, and tore a big tear in about 5 of the pages, and I said, "Sebastian!! Whatever would possess you to do such a thing?!!" Because, obviously, we live in Victorian England and usually speak like that plus he's 2.5 years old and can totally understand. He did get the point that I was upset, though.

Generally, I figure I'm fairly "me" when it comes to being around my children, but sometimes I just feel like I must be channelling some weird parent spirit -- anyone else ever get that feeling?!

[Snacks]

PMSL, that's very funny!
There're loads of things I do that I told myself I wouldn't The most recent one was me telling Natty "not today, darling". I still remember getting sooooo cross when my mum said that to me when I asked for something. Well if not today, when? But I know I must have said it a fair bit because Natty has started repeating it. *Sigh* Fail. LOL!

[AngelPunks]

with the step-munchkins the words "you'll understand when you're older" - WTF and where does that come from

[Spring Angel]

Oh my favourite cop out

'wait until your Daddy gets home'.

DS neither understands it or cares and moreso just gets excited about when Daddy will be home.

[Visitor7]

LOL punks, I say to Nina all the time 'when you're a big girl you can do that'. Since turning 3 though she thinks she's a big girl, so every time I say it, she replies 'but I'm a big girl now'. Oh, and she thinks she's big enough to drive the car also

[Tinks]

Oh man, I find myslef sounding more like my mother every day. It scares me!

The latest one which made me shudder was last Friday when I said "If your friends jumped off a bridge would you jump too?" I have also been known to say 'when you pay the bills you can do whatever you want!' WHY do these things come out of my mouth before i can think of it?

[Erin_25]

Great thread, was thinking about starting something like this some time ago. There are sooooo many things that I do that make me cringe & think of my Mum LOL. Then there are those things as a person without children I would never have pictured myself doing........like running around on the back lawn like an aeroplane singing without a care what neighbour is watching LOL!

When we pull up at the post office now DS always pipes up "mummy with be 2 seconds"!!! he,he.

But really never pictured myself,

Worried about when my child had last done a poo!
Dancing around the kitchen to the wiggles everyday!
Knowing all the words to things such as the Thomas theme song & that James is no5 & Percy no6!

Oooooh sooo many more but I'm about to be late for playgroup.

P.s I am famous for the "go ask your father"!!!!!!!!! I remember that was very much from my childhood.

[Mother Goose]

Ohhh LOVE this thread!

"Because I said so" is something I've found myself saying lately... Oh, and I once told DD the swings were broken for every park we drove past because I just wanted to get home I'll come back with more if I think of them

[MantaRay]

Pretty much everything!! All the things you've mentioned - "because I said so" etc and worse still "but you're the oldest so you should know better"

Not to mention breastfeeding beyond 12 months, bfing on the floor of a shop, having a baby in bed with me using cloth nappies and giving up so many things to put my kids first. Who'd have thought!!

[danniellabella]

I've done the lick the thumb and clean the face thing. I've said "do you want a smack?"
I'm sure there will be a million more things I do or say as DD gets older

[MantaRay]

I thought of another - calling them by the wrong name!

[Mother Goose]

"you've got until I count to 3 young lady!!!"

"eat all your dinner! There are starving children who would kill for a meal like yours"

"Get in your bed and stay there!"

[aussienic]

yeh all the above and many many more

Sometimes I say something that my mum used to say to me.. and I remembered how much I hated it

[danniellabella]

I thought of another - calling them by the wrong name!

I have done that, only I only have one child. Sometimes she'll get called "Buddy" (who is our cat) or our cat will get called by DD's name. Yesterday I was telling DH off and called him DD's name!

My Nanna had 8 kids - 4 boys and 4 girls. I'm told that when she was mad she'd go through all the names of the same gender at least once before going through them again until getting to the right name...but when she was REALLY mad, she'd go through all the kids names, boys and girls.

[Melly01]

My Nanna had 8 kids - 4 boys and 4 girls. I'm told that when she was mad she'd go through all the names of the same gender at least once before going through them again until getting to the right name...but when she was REALLY mad, she'd go through all the kids names, boys and girls.

Mum used to do that with us. I'm the youngest of 5, everyone in our family had a name starting with M, including the 2 dogs, so she'd sometimes have to go through all the names until she got the right one. And didn't want us butting trying to tell her which name to say!

When I was pregnant I vowed that I would not: give DS a dummy, let him sleep in my bed, breastfeed past 6 months, let DS have a bottle past the age of 2, say "Because I said so" or "Stay where I can see you" (how do they know where I can see them? haha). And yet, I do, or I have done all of those things.
Although I do try to say, "Stay where you can see me, if you can't see me, you need to come back here", but sometimes in my rush and haziness I say the other one.

I must say though, some of them turned out to be good, like the BF for longer than I'd imagined, and letting him co sleep. But it's strange how many ideas that I had about raising children changed once I had DS.

[Mother Goose]

OMG! I always swore I'd never make my children sing whilst i was in the loo so i'd know they were there! I used to think it gross when I was growing up... but at the show on the weekend, there wasn't enough room for DD in the cubicle with me so I made her sing so I knew she was still there!

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

The only hated one I do is "I want never gets".

I do not say "Because, that's why" - I always give DS a full answer. Not age-appropriate, maybe, but a full answer. I do a countdown with DS and he has learnt to come to me when I start with "5...4..." and if he doesn't only a minor tantrum when I pick him up and take him away.

I don't smack DS but have asked him if he wants a smack before now... don't know where that came from! When he's beating me up I do tap his hand and when he howls about it I explain that no-one likes to be hit... but he's drawing blood on me and hurting and isn't stopping when I ask, so I reckon that's fair play from me. I don't hurt him - in fact you can barely feel the tap. I've done it to DH and he wonders what the fuss is about.

Or I'll tell DS "after lunch" so he immediatly sits in his seat and tells me "lunch NOW. I want lunch now. Please lunch. Lunch then park. Lunch time." It's 8.30 and we're waiting for the gas man this morning.

"I can't hear you unless you say please." I hate that! I would hate to hear it. I hate to hear me saying it. Yet it is still said. Why?

[Mother Goose]

Oh! LZ you just reminded me of one! DD has started to say "It's not fair" (over weird things) and I sometimes find myself saying "Life's not meant to be fair"