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Observing a nine year old and a four year old

Posted by richrobinson 9 years, 8 months ago to The Gulch: General
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My wife and I didn't have children and we agreed to watch her nine year old nephew and four year old niece for a few days. Some things should be obvious but never having been parents it was a learning experience. I realize now that giving a nine year old boy a squirt gun when he has a four year old sister is a bad idea. I now know that when a nine year old says he won't torture his sister he means turn your back so I can torture my sister. I am now aware that a four year old girl doesn't think that a lawn mower and circular saw running at the same time should stop her from talking. She simply needs to talk LOUDER. Disciplining a four year old girl with big blue eyes is really really hard. Ice cream is not a vegetable. The best part was one day when I had to run a quick errand. I took the nine year old with me. I turned on the radio and told him to find something to listen to. After hitting five of the pre set buttons and passing up three classic songs he tuned in Glenn Beck. He said "awesome, can we listen to this?" I wiped away a tear and said "you are the chosen one...yes we can listen to this.


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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 8 months ago
    Two boys. 19 months apart. Both bright. Both aggressive. Sibling rivalry? Are you kidding? If they were quiet for longer than an hour, I imagined that they were plotting elaborate ways to kill one another. However, they made up for it with lots of fun, loving, amusing moments, and pride in their accomplishments. One amusing incident:
    We never did any swearing around the kids. Six year old son furious at his eight year old brother wanted to swear at him, but the only words he knew were those he was picking up at school. He didn't get it just quite right. Furiously looking at his brother, he screamed "You asphalt!"
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 9 years, 8 months ago
    bummer... you were doing so well...

    Even now, in the back yard we have a faucet with two hoses and I dare my wife to step outside... She has two brothers, so she knows better.

    I have three nieces and three nephews and I look at coins at a gun store that sells PINK BB GUNS. My sister would have a hard time with that...

    Glenn Beck?? Moving from Albuquerque to Traverse City, I had the cats with me and I learned to like both Country _and_ Western because when I tuned to Glenn Beck, they started yowling. Cats are great judges of character.
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    • Posted by Hiraghm 9 years, 8 months ago
      You can tell the character of a person by whether he prefers cats or dogs.

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      • Posted by 9 years, 8 months ago
        Which is better?
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        • Posted by Hiraghm 9 years, 8 months ago
          I dunno, but I often say that if a puppy and a human child are drowning, and it's up to me, the puppy will be saved, and if I can, the child will also be saved.

          Right or wrong, that's how I feel.

          (A child will grow up to be a human, a puppy will grow up to be a dog. Dogs have always been good to me... can't say the same for humans...)
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  • Posted by wiggys 9 years, 8 months ago
    maybe it is okay for him to listen to glenn beck but what of his 4 year old sister. I too have a sister 5 years my junior and when we were 9 and 4 respectively doing anything anti social to her was never a thought and the same goes for my brother who was 2 years my senior. he should be taken behind the shed so he can learn that torturing his sister is not a good idea ever again.
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  • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 9 years, 8 months ago
    Well, it certainly sounds like they had a wonderful time with their Aunt and Uncle! The silence after they leave is deafening isn't it? They run you ragged, but when they're not there, it's kind of sad. Having a son who is two years older than my daughter, I can easily picture the roughing up of the younger sibling by the older. He would get her cranked by saying he was going to feed her hamster to the cat, put a spider under her pillow and various other tortures. That being said, if anyone EVER messed with her, heaven help the kid! And that whole cute factor? My daughter also has her dad wrapped around her finger, lol.
    Funny about Glenn Beck. Unexpected. :-)
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    • Posted by 9 years, 8 months ago
      They were fun NMA. It was nice when they would watch TV so I could do stuff but I watched some of it. Clearly some subtle messages worked into even cartoons. I wasn't a fan of Disney before and I am less now.
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      • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 9 years, 8 months ago
        Disney sucks. Horrible vapid fluff.
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        • Posted by 9 years, 8 months ago
          Absolutely. I think it's safe to say that most of the messages are intentional. One show was about a school glee club. Two of the kids thought each one was better than the other. In the end, of coarse, they realized they did better when they worked together and they were all the same. They should just work together and not compete against one another. Competition bad, collective thought good. Yuck.
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      • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 8 months ago
        We strongly discourage it. They make a lot of stuff with themes that I disagree with and/or are too harsh for small children (the mom dying).
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        • Posted by 9 years, 8 months ago
          Most of it is unnecessary in my opinion. I saw the kids go into an almost trance like state when certain programs were on.
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          • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 8 months ago
            When I was kid we only had a few channels and only watched it if we happened to be hope when kids programming was on. Now kids programing is available at all times on portable devices. Some of it is geared toward kids under 1 y/o, unheard-of in the past and condemned by the American Academy of Pediatrics. We're in a massive generational experiment that will show what will happen if kids are exposed to a huge amt of screentime from a young age. Maybe it won't be that bad. But it's a huge change we took w/o giving it much through. Regular people now typically have screens in the backseats of their cars and screens to entertain kids at restaurants and events. Kids don't have to learn to sit patiently through boring bits of life occasionally out of respect for others.
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