Although I can't pinpoint the exact moment when it happened, somewhere between sending my kid off to first grade and now — I've become a complete embarrassment to him on a slightly grand scale. And I'm kind of having a hard time with it.
I mean, I know he loves me and enjoys my company and everything — or at least he does before I send him out to the bus stop each morning. Because at that point, the sweet little boy who gives me loads of hugs, kisses, and snuggles turns into a pint-sized Joe Cool complete with sunglasses and an attitude.
He's given up on fighting me when I walk him to the end of the driveway, but as soon as I turn him loose and let him run across the street to wait for the bus with the other kids — it's like he somehow feels the need to offer up an excuse as to why his mother is so lame and uncool.
(Sniffle.)
Take this week, for instance. We have quite a bit of snow up here after getting a storm just after Christmas, so of course, my little dude wants to play in it whenever he gets a chance. But before he goes to school in the morning, I don't want him getting his pants all wet by stomping around in the snow, so yesterday, I told him he wasn't allowed to step off the driveway while waiting for the bus. So what does he do? He runs across the street, and immediately announces to his friends that he can't go in the snow because his mother won't let him — and then proceeds to tell them, "She never lets me do ANYTHING."
(OMG. Really?)
And then he decided to kick things up a notch this morning by whining about how cold he is because his mother made him wear jeans to school instead of snowpants (snowpants!) — and then he went into the whole rant about not being allowed to do anything again.
Even after I yelled, "I can hear you!" from across the street — he still continued to complain about me. (Am I really that bad?)
And I know that most kids go through a stage where they are pretty mortified by their parents' mere existence on the face of this earth — but is it really supposed to happen as early as 6 years old?
(Oh, man. He's turning 7 in March. Is it going to get worse?)
Help a mother out. Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong that's responsible for making my 6-year-old act like this?
Image via Mary Fischer