Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Parenting

When I first learned I was to be a parent, like many others, I was excited and nervous. To prepare myself, I absorbed books and videos on babies. I read about breastfeeding, nap schedules, colic, first aid and developmental milestones. I even went as far as to take courses offered by my hospital on baby care, breastfeeding, infant CPR, and labor and delivery. I had it covered, if I do say so myself. If I didn't know the answer then it could be found on my bookshelf or at the other end of a phone line.

I have come to realize recently that I had a narrow scope in my parenting education. Rightfully, I was concerned about my own abilities as a parent. I failed to consider the other aspects of parenthood: interacting with other parents and their children. In many cases it is a non-issue. However, I have stumbled across several outliers along the parenting distribution. One example that comes to mind is the Overly Competitive Mom (OCM).

The OCMs of the world are nuts. Yes, it is that simple. Just recently on a play date an OCM threatened her child with going home if he did not show off his latest word acquisition, or perform on command. According to her, this tactic is fine because she threatens him like this all the time. That did not seem to make sense to me but maybe that was because I was in shock. I was not prepared for her forceful parenting style nor for her need to feel superior through her child's accomplishments. I worried how this dialogue effected her son as well as my own. Will he think I may be this demanding? Will he think this is normal? How can I avoid this person... forever?

Perhaps I need to revisit the library. Hopefully, there will be a book or DVD entitled "How to Deal with Other Parents Who are Nuts" or "Keep the Crazies at Bay: Avoiding OCMs." In the meantime, I'm not answering my phone.

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