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Other People’s Kids
By Karla Whitmore
Children are wonderful. They are little bundles of curiosity, soaking up everything they can about the world around them. In order to do that, they reach for and grab objects, touch things that are not necessarily supposed to be touched, question and break rules to find out what will happen and then fall into bed exhausted at the end of the day. I remember it well. I had three children in three consecutive years and was on constant alert -- and it didn’t get better as they got older, either. The older they get, the more there is to worry about! My kids were not angels. They got mouthy. They would play with things they were not supposed to play with; they would get into the bathroom cabinet and make “potions” with shampoo, toothpaste and shaving cream. They picked on each other and were not always wonderful to everyone around them. Once, I even caught my little girl being mean to the neighbor boy. They weren’t always like that, of course. Mostly, they were well-behaved, but as with any other children, they were KIDS. When my kids would act up, I would make them sit “time-out”. As they got older, I would take away privileges according to the severity of the infraction. My son still swears he was once grounded for six months -- somewhere between the ages of 13 and 15 – and he’s close, because for a while there, he went from one thing to the next.
So what was the difference between my kids and OPKs (other peoples’ kids)?
The biggest difference between my kids and OPKs was that I could and would do something about my kids’ behavior.
That isn’t to say that all other parents drop the ball and I am somehow “parent of the year”. I am sure there are thousands (maybe even millions) of parents around the world who strive to raise well-behaved children. Those aren’t the OPKs to which I am referring. You might recognize these OPKs (all resemblance to those living or dead is purely non-fictional and comes straight from personal experience): These OPKs could get mouthy, throw my son’s bike in the dumpster, rub sand on the hood of my car and be “cute”. These OPKs never did anything wrong even if I caught them. Mommy and Daddy would swear I was lying or “mistaken”. These OPKs... Oh, did I say “never”? Well, that wasn’t true. Sometimes they did do something wrong and then they were grounded for three days or so, but were let off two and ¾ days early for “good behavior”. These OPKs were invited to my daughter’s birthday party and threw the cake across the room before she could blow out the candles. “He’s only nine years old,” his mama whined, “and he’s got A.D.D. He just wanted to play a game.” To those of you whose kids are respectful and obedient -- and when they are not, are corrected, you don’t have “OPKs”. You have “kids”. I like kids. In truth, I don’t really dislike OPKs all that much, either. It’s their parents I can do without. ;)
Karla Whitmore is a freelance web content writer who specializes in blogging, internet marketing,SEO writing, being a mom and grandmother, and procrastinating. You can learn more about her and what she does by checking out her blog KarlaWhitmore.Com or hubs.
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I heard the definition of brat once: Other people's kid who acts just like yours. 
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Aaah. True. :) But then, what really matters is if they are corrected or allowed to continue such behavior. Every kid tests boundaries and if they don't, there is something wrong. But when they test the boundaries, they should find that indeed, the boundaries are there.
Yep, Karla, we've all run across these OPKs -- and their parents.
You can only have so much patience, and usually you give it all to your own child rearing endeavor, don't you think?
In the field of child training many experts on the subject have advised against disciplining children. Their theory is evolution-backed. Says the book Pre-School Education Today when questioning this common view: "Thus, whenever little Johnny does something 'bad,' the behavior (is) explained by noting that it is just a stage he is going through. Moreover, following (one evolutionist’s) parable of the tadpole's tail - in which the hind legs fail to develop if the tail is amputated -Johnny's unwanted behavior must not be hampered, else some desirable future characteristic will fail to appear. I say "rubbish" to this theory.
The copyright for this content entitled " Other People’s Kids" has been specified by the contributor as:
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This content may be copied and distributed (but not modified), as long as the original author is acknowledged with a link back to the content page.
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http://karlawhitmore.qondio.com/
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