I’m a self-professed nagger. However, I prefer a softer term, maybe like “gentle reminder-er.” It’s like I tell my husband and son: I don’t want to nag but I have to, because no one listens to me.
However, I’ve realized that I need to be a bit more choosier in what I nag about or it was always fall on deaf ears. It took my husband and I a moment to stand back and observe our parenting habits, and we agreed we needed to pick our battles more.
For example: my son hates wearing pants. If I let him, he’d wear shorts year-round. This past fall, as the temperatures started to drop and the season changed to a colder one, the fighting began: “You have to wear pants! It’s below 0! This is ridiculous!” I decided not to fight it anymore. He was in 5th grade turning 11, and he knew very well if he was hot or cold. So, he wore shorts every day until the first snow fall. I was over it. Sure, he looked ridiculous being the only kid with stark-white bare legs walking to and from school in October, November, and some of December, and teachers may have sent home reminders that kids should be dressing appropriately for the weather (i.e., not wear shorts), but I was not going to waste my time or energy arguing with him about it.
I think, in the end, we have to ask ourselves: is this really that important? His wearing shorts wasn’t hurting himself or anyone else. It was better to just leave well enough alone and reserve my lecturing for much more important matters.
(But it still drives me nuts when he wears shorts lol)…
A full-time work-from-home mom, Jennifer Cox (our “Supermom in Training”) loves dabbling in healthy cooking, craft projects, family outings, and more, sharing with Suburban readers everything she knows about being an (almost) superhero mommy.