Valentine, I want to get suspended from school for you

Okay, I may get criticized for this post but I get annoyed each Valentine's Day when it comes time for my kids to pick out cards to give to their friends at school.  Last year, Charlie and Isaac wanted Pokemon ones.  Easy enough, right?  So, we get the cards home and most of them have messages on them like, "Valentine, you're hot" and "On fire for you".  Let me be clear. These are valentines for my elementary school aged kids to give to their friends.  I wrote to the company and told them that I thought these messages were inappropriate for that age group.  I got a reply saying that it was a joke because the Pokemon had fire abilities and that I was too old to "get it".  Do you know what I am old enough to "get"? That telling someone at school that they are hot is sexual harassment.  I weeded through the cards and managed to find some with appropriate messages and threw the rest away.

This year, I thought I would play it safe.  I bought valentine cards made by Dum Dum lollipops.  They weren't as bad but I did take out the ones that said, "You put me on cloud nine" and "Guess who likes you?".  I also didn't use the stickers that came with it that said, "Yeah, baby!".  

Am I overreacting?  Being a prude?  All I know is that I'd rather my kids send messages like, "I'm glad we're pals" rather than proposition their friends.  That's just me.

I hate Mom!!

There comes a time in every Mom's life when your child will hate you.  Last night, 9 year old Charlie didn't get his way.  He got grounded.  One day...Two days...Three days.  He couldn't stop himself.  That's when it happened. He took out his treasure box, pictured above, and wrote "I hate Mom!!" in it.

I suppose he was waiting for some sort of reaction from me when he brought it in and placed it on my desk.  I didn't cry. I didn't feel like a bad parent. There is no time for such silliness.

As hard as it is, being a parent means being a parent.  It means accepting that you aren't always going to be your child's best friend.  Your child will not always like you and for small periods of time you may not really like them either.

Later that evening, Charlie came to me and said he was sorry and that he really does love me.  I said that I will always love him.

So it goes. The story of mother and child.  We like each other most of the time but love each other always.