About Me

I'm in way over my head. I'm a stay at home mom of three kids that I never planned to have. I'm just trying to get to bedtime.

Friday, October 16, 2009

The snow looks so pretty tonight. It's all sparkly and sticking to the trees just like a Christmas card. You know the cards I'm talking about. The ones they put glitter on to make the snow look better than it really does. Now take that Christmas card and shove it in your pocket until December.
It's not even Halloween yet and the flakes are flying. Does anyone realize what this means? Heating bills are going up sooner? absolutely. The winter clothes you just painstakingly packed away have to come out? Yepper. A longer cold and flu season? Does it ever really end?
None of this bothers more that what I will be forced to do for the sake of my children. This year we will be forced to trick or treat at .........the mall. Oh, how it horrifies me. It feels so wrong, so commercial, so Soccer Mom. Granted, I do have daydreams of Suburbia but not that bad.
There are no decorated houses, no friendly neighbors, very few homemade costumes, no leaves to kick in and no houses with full size candy bars or unattended bowls of sugary delight. There is no good candy at all in fact, just Tootsie Roll knock offs that my kids can't have and even I won't touch. The thought of that crummy candy causes obscene behavior in the children parading around in their store bought best.
We took Mandy to the mall for her first time out at almost 18 months. I thought it would be nice and not very crowed. Well, I got smacked it the face with the big boot of reality right away. The mall was packed. I was thankful I decided to use a leash on my 16 pound runner with winged feet. There was so much sparkly tulle and little light sabers that I could have easily lost her in the mix within seconds.
Not only were there hordes of children of all ages but quite a few of them were rude and pushy when it came to getting candy. My little bird boned girl was knocked down a total of three times during the evening by kids two and three times her size. I don't know where their parents were, they seemed to have none. Each time the offender was gone like a rocket. I doubt they would have gotten away with that in a regular neighborhood. Their parents would have been waiting for them at the end of the walk and seen it. Most parents would have said or done something about the incident.
It seemed, at the time, that people were afraid to be caught disciplining their kids. It still seems that way. Your not going to go to jail if you make a kid appoligize. The world is not going to end if your kids doesn't think your awesome for a few minutes. Parenting is not a popularity contest. If it is I'm definately losing that crown.
I considered not taking my kids trick or treating this year to avoid the bull that goes with the mall route. I just can't do it. Mandy had a blast her first time at the mall two years ago, and I know Kieran will as well if he doesn't scream his head off. I can't with hold a childhood right of passage like trick or treating even if it's at the mall. I'm just going to need a little less coffee and a little more "treats" this year.

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