Even so, despite what I said yesterday, in the grand scheme of things it’s truly not that big a deal if a parent calls their child “my baby,” which is why a respectful child should endure it despite any insult or indignity they feel.
Mind you, a child feeling insulted by the term is precisely why a respectful parent shouldn’t call them that.
Now I’ve got a pretty good idea what some people out there are thinking about what I wrote yesterday, and it goes along the lines of, “Oh come on, it’s not that big a deal!”
To which I respond, “Are you saying I shouldn’t ‘be a baby’ about it then?”
While I admit that it seems unlikely to me that there has never been a child that actually liked being called “my baby” by a parent, I’m willing to bet the ones that do like it are few and far between.
If you don’t understand why, just consider how often “baby” is used as an insult when directed at non-babies, and how especially dire an insult that can be to a child old enough to understand they are not a baby anymore.
Mom visited us recently, and as she was getting ready to leave, she asked for a “goodbye hug from her baby.”
Afterwards, L’s Mother turned to L. and said, basically, “See? I know you don’t like it when I call you ‘my baby,’ but your dad just got called ‘baby’ by his mother and he didn’t complain.”
No . . . no, I didn’t, but she obviously didn’t see the look of utter revulsion that crossed my face.
Sometimes I wonder why my dog is just staring at me.
I suspect she doesn’t want to miss it in case I spontaneously decide to give her an extra meal.
Change is a part of life, and body changes can be a big part of that . . . literally in some cases.
Even so, so long as you’re healthy, don’t sweat it too much if you find yourself putting on some pounds. Your true friends will be sympathetic even when that sympathy is also accompanied by sympathy for the horse you’re riding.
I try to be precise in my language, and I think that, “I need to consult with you at your earliest mild inconvenience,” conveys just the right level of urgency for a non-emergency, “We REALLY to deal with this sooner rather than later.”
You don’t have to agree on politics to be a good neighbor.
If you’re not part of someone’s path to learning, they will not learn from you, and this will not change no matter how much you think they need to learn something.
For most of my life I never bothered to track what I ate. I never gave it much thought to be honest, figuring that keeping a “general idea” of what I was eating would be enough.
Then there came a point where I was clearly starting to put on pounds around my middle, and I couldn’t figure out why. I wasn’t particularly indulging myself, and I wasn’t doing anything (I thought) especially different, so I started keeping track and still couldn’t figure it out.
Until I remembered to include the several tablespoons of peanut butter and jelly I was consuming per day because my son was going through a PB&J phase, and I always had leftover and didn’t want it to go to waste.
Candles & Curses 