Thread: Being a kid
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Old 09-17-2002, 04:01 PM   #20
perth
Strong Silent Type
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Posts: 1,949
there are certain things i dont think should ever be said to a child. 'shut up' is one of them.

when james was ~4 months old, he was getting sick with ear infections quite a bit. my wife was back at work and he was sleeping during the day when he slept at all. we were up with him in shifts. by about the third night in a row, we were both at the end of our rope. it was my turn and james had cried inconsolably for 2 hours, and i, in delerium and frustration, told him to shut up. the moment the words left my mouth, exhaustion, delerium, frustration, all left me and i was left with an overwhelming sense of guilt over what i had said. i will never get over saying that.

i will never say 'bad boy' to my son. i say 'good boy' all the time, partly to positively reinforce good behaviour and partly because he is a good boy. il never call him a bad boy because thats just name-calling.

~james
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