Selfish Mom

I. Don’t. Bluff.

Nov 30, 2009 Kids

Have you ever had an evening go from blissfully pleasant to shitty in the space of about 90 seconds?

We were having a fantastic day.  Jake doesn’t have Tae Kwon Do on Mondays so there’s no running around, no rushing.  We always have time on Mondays for a slow dinner, a board game, whatever.  Tonight Jake wanted to make paper airplanes – something I’m really good at, BTW – so we did that for a couple of hours.  Daddy came home, all remained pleasant.  There were a few close calls with paper airplanes landing near flames and buzzing close to eyes, but no actual damage.

Then Jake got in trouble, doing something he’s done before and definitely knows he’s not supposed to do.  One of those things that just gets an instant punishment, no warnings.  It was about half an hour until he was supposed to get ready for bed anyway, so I told him he was done and was going to bed early.  I told him to say goodnight and go get ready.

He refused.

I calmly listed the punishments he would receive if he didn’t go upstairs right away and get ready for bed.  I warned him not to do anything stubborn or stupid, to just go upstairs.  Probably a poor choice of words.  I can see the distinction between calling his behavior stupid and calling him stupid, but he didn’t, and shot right back with “I’m not stupid, you’re stupid, and I’m not going upstairs.”

So that was that.  I told him he had all of the punishments I had just listed, and if he didn’t go upstairs they’d be doubled.  He went.

I don’t understand what happened.  I don’t bluff about punishments, and he knows that.  He knows that.  He knows that if I threaten a punishment I always follow through.

This is not how it’s supposed to work.  This is not how it usually works.  He gets in trouble all the time for things he’s already done, but I can usually stop him from doing the next thing.  Not this time.  And honestly, I wouldn’t have threatened such a huge punishment if I had thought for a second I would have to follow through on it.  But I did, and I do.  Sometimes being a parent just sucks.  I guess the only thing worse is being eight.

Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.

Tags: punishments

These boobs were made for talkin’

Nov 30, 2009 How To Piss Me Off

Have you seen this commercial for Reebok Women’s EasyTone Shoes?  I have no problem with the concept of the shoes.  I just think the commercial is really dumb.  Because it’s not bad enough that I already compare my body to other bodies (yeah, I do, all the time.  If I know you then I’ve sized you up and compared, just deal with it), but now Reebok wants my body parts to compete with each other?  With a commercial filled with close-ups of boobs and and a butt?  A butt bending over, no less?  Who’s the audience for this commercial?  Because it seems to be men.  But I think most men would be worried about a smack on the head if they gave a woman shoes and said “Hey, babe, your butt could be tighter.  Wear these.”

For the record, while I don’t think the second commercial is great, I think it targets its audience a little better: women who wish people were staring at their butts instead of listening to what they’re saying.

Ugh.  Or maybe I’m just pissed at both commercials since my boobs and butt will never look like those!

Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.

Tags: commercial, Reebok EasyTone Shoes

Very cool t-shirt giveaway from Estilo LAB

Nov 30, 2009 Product Giveaway

My newest advertiser, Estilo LAB, is a boys’ t-shirt company with hip, unusual designs (sometimes even featuring drawings from the owner’s nine-year-old son Jalen, whose art is quite impressive).  The owner, Lisa, has offered up a great prize for one lucky reader: a shirt from the current line (either the ABC Tree shirt in sizes 3T-5T, or the ants in a maze shirt in sizes 5-10), plus a polo shirt from the spring “Beware of Boys!” line (to be sent out at the end of February 2010).  So, the winner will ultimately receive 2 of these fantastic t-shirts.

To enter, all you have to do is visit the Estilo LAB site, and leave a comment back on this post saying which of the current t-shirt designs is your favorite.

For a second entry, you can tweet about this giveaway (don’t forget to leave a separate comment linking to your tweet!).  Just make sure to mention what the prize is and link back to this post, or you can just copy and tweet this:

Enter to win 2 very hip Estilo LAB t-shirts from @SelfishMom http://bit.ly/7hMJR5

So, that’s a maximum of two entries per household, please.  The comments will close at noon-ish on Monday, December 7th and random.org will draw the winner.  For complete rules, please see my Giveaway Rules page.  Good luck!

Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 9 and 12. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.

Tags: Estilo LAB, t-shirts