Kid-Friendly

It amazes me how different kids are these days. Seeing how entitled and spoiled most kids are these days scares the crap out of me, and is one of the reasons I keep hitting the snooze button on my biological clock. Maybe it's because my parents weren't born here, but I would beat my kid if they talked back to me, or didn't respect their elders.

I have an adorable 6 year old cousin, who is spoiled rotten. She was the first baby in the family in 22 years, so it was unavoidable. Her parents both work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, and my eldest aunt nannies her. She rarely hears no, gets to eat McDonald's, sweets and junk food almost daily and has been given no boundaries. In her 6 years, she has learned that if she pesters or screams loud enough, she will eventually get her way. I've seen her try to hit her mother, and be pissy with my grandmother. If someone tells her no, she pretends not to hear. When we're all together, if she asks for something and I tell her no, she'll go to our aunt or some other adult for a yes.

She's pretty much a terror and thinks the world revolves around her. She yells at her parents, is snarky to our grandmother, thinks everyone is there to wait on her hand and foot. Except, that is, when she's alone with me. Just call me Drill Sergeant.

Unfortunately my schedule doesn't allow me to spend as much time with her as I used to. But when we do get to have a play date, she has learned that tantrums wear her out before me, doesn't even bother asking for McDonald's anymore, that she will always be given a choice with me but each has consequences, and that everything isn't about her. Yet she comes back for more. I love a kid who knows there are limits. And I'm starting to believe they seek them out.

Last Saturday, she didn't have Chinese school, so she plopped her butt in front of the TV. I went over there, took one look and said, "Come on kid, let's go run some errands." She didn't know what errands are, but along she came, and I promised her we would bake Christmas cookies if she was on her best behavior. And I'm proud to say she was a complete angel when it was just the two of us around the city. We went shopping at the Apple store, looked for candle holders, she even sat patiently while I got my eyebrows threaded. I took every opportunity to thank her for keeping me company so I wouldn't get bored while I was out for the afternoon.

Later on, we baked and decorated. Now my version of baking is Christmas cookies is cutting into a Pillsbury log and sprinkling Christmas sugars, decals and dragees on top. Hey, maybe it was cheating but the kid loved it, and her tray definitely came out looking nicer than mine! Unfortunately, she found the dragees too crunchy (I kind of agreed), and ended up spitting them out, but they sure did look good. I put the cooled cookies in a container for her, which she had the manners to ask if she has to return it (I assured her it would be fine to keep), and as we started to get ready to take her and her cookies home, she said "I didn't really like them, I don't want them".

All I did was take one look at her, and she said, "Oh...okay."

That is one smart kid. Like I said, just call me Drill Sergeant!

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