Letting a little smack talk slide

January 9, 2013 by Michelle | 6 Comments

One day recently, I was trying to have a nice quiet moment with my 5-year-old son.  Husband had gone grocery shopping and my youngest had been sent to his room for disobeying me and just being a little shit in general, where he proceeded to pitch a fit until he passed out (sometimes, it’s the only way I can get him to take a nap, ok?).

So, finally, after all was quiet, my elder son and I started to snuggle into the recliner together to watch Toy Story 3 for the 11th time.  I tried to squeeze my butt in between him and “my side” of the recliner when he started to whine his loud, obnoxious and ear-piercing whine.

“Hey, hey, hey, knock off the whining, I’m just trying to get comfortable” I barked at him.

It worked for about 30 seconds before he began to ramp it up again.   This time, because there was a commercial.

I snapped again.  “Hey….enough already, do you need to take a nap too?”

And before I was even able to finish my rhetorical question, he quickly turns to me with obvious “attitude” and pipes up, “Do you need to take a nap?”.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Did he seriously just sass me?

First of all, As a matter of fact I do need to take a nap!  What mother doesn’t ?  And does he know why I need a nap? Because of people like him!  And his brother.  I’ve needed a nap since August 9th 2007.

But that is beside the point.   The point is, my 5-year-old son back-talked me, in a completely contextually appropriate way, which impressed me and appalled me simultaneously.   So what else could I do except stare at him blankly for a few seconds and then start laughing?

I know, I know, I shouldn’t let my child back-talk.  I should scold him in some way as opposed to laughing and saying “impressive comeback!”.  I should teach him respect for his parents and not let it happen again.

The thing is, most of the time, I do.  He’s been sent to his room numerous times for things like that, but I also think that once in a while, it’s okay to just let your kid engage in a little smack-talk.  It’s sometimes a handy tool to have in real life–especially for a very shy and reserved Kindergartener.

Good One Kiddo:)