Sunday, October 20, 2013

Other People's Kids

My mother- and sister-in-law are both early childhood educators and insist that small children are much better behaved when they are away from their parents. I hadn't had the chance to test this and had to take their word for it. Until yesterday, that is, when I brought Jamie over to Erin and Svante's so we could hang with Ossian while they went out on a date. Now, Ossian is already incredibly well-behaved so I wasn't expecting any trouble, but I have to admit I was a little uncertain about how bedtime would play out. Erin had explained that, much like Jamie these days, Ossian mixes up his routine pretty much every night and gave me a couple of examples, but nothing could have prepared me for what actually went down. At twenty-to-eight, when I asked Ossian nonchalantly if he wanted to go to bed, the kid dropped his toys, walked to his room, crawled into bed and went. to. sleep. It was pretty amazing and totally dependent upon the fact that I wasn't his one of his folks, that much was clear. Jambo, meanwhile, stayed up until eleven, about halfway through the car-ride home. So Sarianne and Mama Swede were right. If you want respect from a toddler, it's going to have to be somebody else's.  

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