Adventures in Mommy-hood

You know what annoys me?  Well, lots of things, actually, but if I decided to blog about every.single.thing that annoys me, we could be here for a very long time.  So, limiting myself to one annoying thing, I'll give you a hint.  It's something old people say to young people.  All.The.Time.

It annoyed me when it was my grandma saying it to me, and it annoys me when it's my kids' grandparents saying it to them.

"Do you have a girl(boy)friend?"

And, the various themes thereof.  Upon arrival, "do you have a girl(boy)friend?"  Upon receiving a phone call, "is that your girl(boy)friend?"  Sitting at the supper table, "did you see your girl(boy)friend at school today?"  After taking a shower, "are you going to see your girl(boy)friend later?"

Ugh!

I know it's just something people say, but think about it.  Is it really too much to ask you to think about what you're saying?  The ideas you're putting in their heads?  My 12 and 9 year old sons are no where near mature enough to have girlfriends.  Physically?  Maybe, and if not, someday soon.  But emotionally?  No way.  When you ask them, over and over, if they have one, they start to think maybe they should.

Stop making my kids grow up faster than they need to.

Finally, after about the 15th time this visit (fifteen!  Honestly), I asked the question I never had the guts to ask my own grandmother, "why do you say that?" 

The response, from a loving grandparent?  "Because it's fun."

OK, people.  So what you're saying is, it's fun to make my kid squirm?  It's fun to, over and over and over again, make him blush and become suddenly engrossed in his book, his supper, his iPod?  It's fun to make him not want to spend time with you because you're always asking that stupid question?  Do you really not have anything else to say to my son?  Really?

That, my friends, is bullying: using words to hurt another person for your own amusement.  Stop it.