Thread: Mom's Clubhouse - From One Mom to Another

I was just watching today's Oprah show that was all about the fun and challenges of being a mom. So many of the stories told by the mom's who appeared on the show I could relate to. So I thought it would be fun to start a thread for the moms on this board to share their trials and tribulations about motherhood.

Let me start ... I have two girls aged 5 and 9. They are both high energy, often needy and very much extroverted. They challenge me at times, make me cry at other time, but they bring me so much joy. The thing I find hardest about being a mom is juggling it all and trying to be that perfect mom, employee and wife. I have come to the conclusion that I will be good at all three, but will never be perfect. This is a-okay.

Please use this thread to talk about motherhood and your children. Share ideas, proud moments, challenges, vents and weirdest moments.

LOL... nice thread.

I have 3 children 19, 16 and 7... the 7 year old is the MOST challenging! Very extroverted and I must say I get more calls from school because of her "attitude" ....UGHHH, she IS the reason for my grey hair!

LMAO

I have a 11-yr old daughter. We started late (met in our early 40s) so she's the only child, and the only grandchild on both sides.

I vent all the time about what's going on in her life, school and friends. I do know that one of the smartest things I did was get her into the magnet program for grade school. Didn't care for how the adminstration handled bullying problems at her home school (including two major situations involving her being victimized) and when she got into the other school, she blossomed so much academically. Now she's in middle school, has a problem here and there with a kid, but rarely. Mostly hangs with a group of kids (I think one or two of the boys are from her last school, and the girls I've met seem nice, except one seems obsessive).

She's out of school a lot with hay fever problems, so I hope her school doesn't start making noises about that.

I started a blog about middle school, but usually just post something here and there. I'm working on a page with resources about bullying to help parents help their kids.
Diary of a Middle Schooler Mom

Patty, great blog and website. My girls are not in middle school yet, but will be before I know it!!

Dolores, I am living with attitude too and i'm sorry to say that it has gotten worse from when my 9 year was 7. I got a note from her teacher today saying that she had to be told 3 times to stop making silly noises in class ... she just likes having fun and was trying to make others laugh. We had a talk tonight and I hope all is calm at school tomorrow.

This is my favorite time as a mom ... when the kids and my husband are asleep, the house is quiet and I have some down time. Thinking of this down time gets me through the rough parts of the day!!

BTW ... this thread is just not reserved for moms ... there are plenty of dads out there who are dealing with fatherhood ... please join in!!

Enjoying my tea and some quiet time ...

Livabeth

It was hard for my girl to learn not to talk in class. The teachers would have a "card system" (a set of colored cards in each kid's "pocket" on the wall...when a kid misbehaves, the teacher sends the kid up to "turn" a card). When she was in kinder and 1st grade, I started a reward system for her. If she still had her green card by the end of the day, I would give her a ticket. I would keep a selection of toys, with a amount of tix needed to get each one. So as soon as she earned enough, she would pay for the toy she wanted. (like an outfit for her Barbie).

The only time she would get a punishment was for the rare "red" card. It was funny one day she didn't get to watch tv after her homework was done for a few days because she got a red card for talking too much. Found out from other mom, that her kid also got a red card for the same thing (guess who he sat next to) got a similiar punishment.

Now it's boys who are mostly getting into trouble in her core academic classes. One boy had made a "weapon" out of a mechnical pencil, so those kind of pencils got banned in the class.

Originally Posted by Livabeth

Patty, great blog and website. My girls are not in middle school yet, but will be before I know it!!

Dolores, I am living with attitude too and i'm sorry to say that it has gotten worse from when my 9 year was 7. I got a note from her teacher today saying that she had to be told 3 times to stop making silly noises in class ... she just likes having fun and was trying to make others laugh. We had a talk tonight and I hope all is calm at school tomorrow.

This is my favorite time as a mom ... when the kids and my husband are asleep, the house is quiet and I have some down time. Thinking of this down time gets me through the rough parts of the day!!

BTW ... this thread is just not reserved for moms ... there are plenty of dads out there who are dealing with fatherhood ... please join in!!

Enjoying my tea and some quiet time ...

Livabeth

Thanks for the kind words. Sometimes I want to write something but I hold back because it's specific to the girl's school (and I don't want to identify it...there's at least six or seven middle schools within maybe ten miles, not quite sure). Or I want to write something about one of her teacher's. I'm too worried one of them would read what I write and take it out on her.

I have one son. He is 8 1/2 and definitely keeps me on my toes. It is definitely a challenge somedays balancing work, home and being a mommy.

Thanks for starting this thread, Livabeth

Well... 2 weeks ago, I got a call UGHH, I cringe now and let it go to voicemail, lol.. Anyway... I told Ally she could have TV for the rest of the school week...she said "ok, anything else?" UGHHHH

I remember last year I got a call from the girl's fifth grade teacher. She said the girl used "inappropriate language" and because she heard it, she had to give her detention. Turned out that the kids were practicing for the culmination ceremony. They had to carry their chairs from the classrooms onto the playground to where they would be sitting. The girl felt her chair was heavy and awkward, and she used the word "damn."

It was hard for me not to laugh. I did point out that my girl was still sick from hay fever and still didn't feel 100 per cent, and also pointed out that she came every day during the state tests, when normally if she felt that bad, she may have stayed home for a day or two. So she did detention. And she had to carry her chair to the area like the other kids on the morning of the ceremony. And sang that High School Musical song that her teacher, a major Disney fan, paraphrased the words but managed to keep ALL the verses (at one point during the song, one girl fainted from the 100-plus degree heat). In fact, this teacher and another one made their kids write the words to that song five times as punishment because the kids weren't singing it during one rehearsal.

BTW, the girl decided last year that she no longer likes HSM (as well as Hannah Montana). She also decided she's over Twilight (she did read the four books, and was begging to see the movie...but since then, she could care less). And regarding language, if you freak out over four letter words, don't hang out at the girl's middle school. The language the kids use would curl your hair.

Great idea Livabeth!!!!!

I have 2 girls, 4 and 9.

We had a terrible time today at their dance class. I think the dance teachers are just dowright nasty to the kids, but tonight, they really proved it. My youngest didn't want to dance in front of all of the parents (at the end of class). The dance school's owner started hiding plastic easter eggs around the class. I told my daughter that she would have to dance to get an easter egg.

So she ran out of the dance class and cried that she was too afraid to dance in front of the parents. I calmed her down and told her she just had to walk back in, do her short little dance and get an egg. Well she walked back in, stepped in line with the other girls JUST as the song ended. So all of the girls ran to get their egg. The dance school's owner (who is 28 and NO kids) yells at my daughter "NOOOO, you can't have one . YOU didn't dance"

My 4 year old dissolves into a sobbing pile of mush. She is FOUR. Holy sh** give the poor kid a plastic egg.

I try to calm her down. Another little girlwalks over and hands my daughter HER egg. I thank her and tell her to keep her own egg. The mom says "She saw what happened and she want to give her an agg". Then her mom says "That was REALLY mean" about the dance school owner.

All of the parents kept mouthing things to me. Saying how mean it was.

So that was my night. I want to call this dance school and tell her to stick it. The recital is in 5 weeks

UGH what a night