Earmuffs-Another Kind

The Girl Loves an Audience

So I wrote this lovely post about how you should tell your kids when you’re proud of them. I meant every word of it. I really did.

I’ve also written plenty of posts about how I think time is going to0 fast and I should just soak in all of this while I can because I know soon that they won’t want to be near me and I’ll miss these days.

But sweet Mother of Pearl there are some days where I just can’t do it. No, no, no I just can’t soak in anymore and I can’t get nostalgic and I can’t embrace the joy because I’m so overcome with the desire to just yell, “Please, shut your mouths for one dang second!”.

Yep, it’s true,  the chatter is killing me.

I know, I know someday I’ll wish for chatter. Someday, when they’re all locked in their surly, partly-cloudy dens of teenage angst, I’ll long for lengthy descriptions of Pokemon Rules or Magic Carnivals planned at recess. But right now? Right now if I have to hear one more retelling of a conversation between two third graders, or worse two fictional characters, or listen to one more play-by-play of a video game conquest or celebrate another trading card victory, I might burst.

I read somewhere that we should always listen to our kids like everything they say is important because to them everything is important. But I’m really not sure I can live up to that standard when so much of what they say lately is mind-numbing at worst or just plain incomprehensible (what the hell is a Pikachu anyway?) at best.

I’m sorry, but the lives of Mario and Luigi or Harry and Hermoine are NOT actually that important. Really. They’re not. Neither is the “funny” game you made up with your friends wherein you repeat the same things over and over in strange voices and then scream. Dear Child why would you think I care to hear this?

I KNOW! I know, I should be so grateful that they want to share with me. I KNOW what I should do and most days I do. But,being brutally  honest, sometimes I just can’t. I glaze over and nod at repeated intervals. I’m apparently not that good at it because often my youngest will inquire, “mom are you even listening to me?”.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my children and think they are each good company most of the time. I really do relish hearing about the things they do in school and even about the games they play with friends, as long as there is no screaming.

I hope they know that I appreciate them sharing and that I’m listening well enough to show them I care, so that someday they won’t completely shut me out. I do try to make them feel important, most of the time.

But there are days…Oh there are days, where my only hope is that they don’t ask me to repeat what they’ve said.