Hammer Time

I'm pretty sure we all have a person in our lives (indirectly or otherwise) who has children who cannot make a move without his/her approval and/or direction. You know what I'm talking about. For instance, when you answer the phone at work and the person on the other end of the line is the son or daughter of this person. Like, every time!

I hope that in raising our sons, my husband and I instill enough common sense and courage for them to make decisions. I'm not saying that they should never come to us for advice or our opinions. What I am saying is, they shouldn't do it each time something arises.

The person in my life (as mentioned above) has sons who, I swear, cannot even decide what to have for dinner without her approval. It drives me bananas. What's even more over the top is that she complains of this happening, yet does nothing to change it. I'm all for "don't complain unless you plan on making a change"!

My kids are still young and very immature. My husband and I are strict, to the point, yet very much emotionally available to each of them. We are not materialistic, in fact, I'd rather show my love by means of a home cooked meal vs. the new video game that was just released. Very cut and dry. They will always know where they stand with us.

For example: Last night, our fifteen year old son was taking out the trash. To the garage. The garage is through the door in my kitchen. There was a backpack to be thrown out and he decided he needed to wear the backpack to the trash can, five feet away. My husband told him he was a tool, the kid made a sarcastic comment and completed the chore. When he came back inside I referred to him as "Hammer". He hated this. He will forever more be called "Hammer". This morning, I rushed to get ready so I would have five minutes to spare. After "Hammer" left for school, I went straight to the white board in his room and drew a picture of a hammer and wrote "Hammer Time" next to it. I'm sitting here waiting for the text from "Hammer" that he is indeed over the new nickname.

But don't you see? Like I said, they will always know where we stand!