I posted a question a little while ago about my husband and our 11-year old farting at the dinner table. They think it's hilarious, and do it just to annoy me. My daugher has done it twice in a public restaurant.
Many of you suggested I "lighten up" and that they are probably just doing it BECAUSE it annoys me and it's their "bonding thing." I resolved to just ignore it. Some of you said that she would try to do it in school and be embarrassed and THAT would make it stop.
Well, that's exactly what happened!
She was in gymnastics class and was called to the front of the class to demonstrate a back flip. Well, she must have put a lot of effort into it because she tooted right in the middle of the trick! Immediatley the kids started laughing and she was SO embarrassed! She did run out of the gym crying and refused to come back in. I was there and was comforting and assured her that everyone would have forgotten by the time she came back. Then I reminded the class that everyone toots and it's not something to make fun of someone for. No one brought it up or laughed when she came back.
Later that night my husband let one rip at the table (per usual) and instead of laughing, my daughter scowled at him and said "That's not funny, Dad!"
My husband and I had many talks in the past about how I didn't think it was appropriate for him to be farting at the table and enlisting his daughter to join in and that it would eventually come back to haunt him and he didn't seem to care. Well, it was ALL I could do not to look at both of them and say "I told you so!"
But rather than create new drama, I held my tongue.
What are the moments when you were dying to say "I told you so!" but held your tongue? Or did you end up saying it anyway!
Hold my tongue? Fat chance! I am the master of "I told you so". I try to shut my mouth and keep a strait face, but inevitably it slips out, SEE!! I was right!! Next time will you Pah-leeeeeze listen to me?!
It's terrible.
Note to self: quit that.
That didn't take long to fix itself did it?
P.S. I totally would have said I told you so.
Hi! I have a "burned hand teaches best" child and if I had a nickel for every time I have said or wanted to say "I told you so" to him I'd be lying by a pool on my private island with a cabana boy fanning me while sipping something wonderful and cold instead of going back out to do yard work...
Ya mean like right now? :p
Peer pressure can be both good and bad. You got to see the good side of it. :)
Daughter refusing to hold onto the handrail when going down the stairs. She would run up and down, sometimes skipping steps and scare me out of my head. I told her over and over that it would only take one misstep and she'd fall and hurt herself. She still didn't listen. I got more graphic and yelled at her one day, "If you don't start using that hand-rail, you'll trip, fall down those stairs and crack your head open on the tile! BRAINS EVERYWHERE! And I won't be able to put you back together. Once the brains are on the floor there is no five second rule, we'll have to put them in the trash! USE THE HANDRAIL!"
One day, she hopped down the first two steps of the stairs and then missed a step and went head over heels all the way down to the bottom. It was like watching a horror show. You could witness but not intervene. I raced over to her to make sure she had not broken her neck. She was shaking and terrified after her quick trip downstairs but was otherwise unharmed. She didn't even get a bruise. Once I determined she wasn't hurt, I gave her the loudest, longest biggest rant of an "I told you so" that I think has ever come out of a mother, ever. (I think it was my body's way of purging that shot of adrenaline I got watching her tumble.)
After I wound down, I hugged her tight and then told her to go upstairs and play. She walked up the stairs rather than skip or leap or run or hop and she HELD THE FREAKING HANDRAIL!
She has since gone back to running up and down the stairs but at least now she keeps her hand on the rail just in case. Sometimes I wonder if that kid has to figure out every painful lesson herself...
OMG I would NOT have told you to lighten up. This is a major no no in our house. No farting or burping at the table. If you have to fart, excuse yourself to the restroom. And burping would have to be silent in your mouth type. We teach table manners. It is probably a good thing that happened to her to teach her a lesson in manners. I know it was an accident, but maybe now she will see what she has been doing to herself.
mama always knows best :)
i have tons but they are of the "don't run in the house - told you so". "don't scream at him just talk nicely or you will get nowhere - told you". "don't tickle him he just ate - told you so." variety lol.
mama always knows best ;)
A perfect story about natural consequences. Sometimes, you don't even have to fight the battle. This is the best kind of lesson and next time, she might actually listen to you the *first* time. And good for you for holding your tongue...chances are your daughter feels bad enough without you rubbing it in.
Sounds like a story that will go down in family legend is in the making here... ;)
I always hold my tongue, because I am too classy of a woman to say that. I do show a slight smile to myself though.
Your original post has been haunting me. Even my soon to be 13 year old DD thought it was gross to do that at the table - and she and DH think farts are hysterical too.
You're a better woman than I am. I would have followed the "I told you so" with "and next time I tell you something, you'd better listen to me because I ALWAYS know best". OK, that would come back to bite me in the butt, but you get the idea.
I'm not good at holding my tongue! I usually end up saying "I told you so" and loving it! lol
Ha! I wonder if she will now listen to you in the future?
If not, just remind about this incident...
My mom used to say, i am telling you this so you w,ill never br emberassed by this.
Some people just have to experience the shame to understand.
