Tuesday, December 13, 2011

It's Not Fair!

For everyone who got the condensed version of events on FaceBook, here is the whole story of last night....

So at shower/bedtime my kids decided to make a deal with each other. Greyson (age 8) will get in the shower while Grant (age 5) watches tv, and then they will switch.
All was going according to plan until a naked Grant runs out of the bathroom "I can't get in the shower there is something in there!" Turns out is was wet paper starting to disintegrate, which I clean out and tell him to get his naked butt off my furniture and get himself into the shower. Nothing. I end up repeating myself two more times and then tell Greyson the tv has to go off since Grant can't concentrate on getting in the shower. "Grant, you're a f---ing idiot." O-kay.
"Greyson, you are now in trouble for not only not turning off the tv, but using words that aren't very nice."
"I'm leaving, I can't live here any more with a brother that makes life harder for me."
"You might want to put on your shoes, because it's kinda cold out there."
Shoes go on. "Now I'm leaving this place."
"You might also want to wear your coat, it is cold out."
"No, I'm just leaving."
Exactly 2 minutes later he is back inside. Ranting again, "My life is hard enough without my brother messing things up for me. I've had a hard day. And Dad doesn't live with us!" Really, pulling the dad card after 2 1/2 years?
Then he decides he starving and he is going to finish his rice from dinner so he can have dessert. He tells me he is finished and is ready for a cookie.
"Really Greyson? I'm not going to find your rice in the garbage?"
"No, I ate it." But it is in the garbage.
"This is not fair! I am starving and I didn't like the rice and now you're not letting me eat anything else! It's not fair!"
He continues on the same vein until finally I get fed up as he is still ranting while trying to brush his teeth.
"That's right, life is NOT fair OR equal. You know what? It's not fair that you are going to sleep in a warm bed tonight. There are people who are sleeping outside tonight. You saw them on the sidewalk in Chicago in their sleeping bags."
At this point my 5 year old starts to laugh because it is funny to 5 year olds that there are people sleeping on sidewalks.
Greyson says,"It's not funny Grant, imagine sleeping outside - it's really cold out there!" And yes you know from your 2 minutes of running away tonight with no coat on!
But, I can't leave it at that, "And it's not fair that you are starving after eating 3 meals today and KNOWING that you are getting 3 meals tomorrow when there are people out there that don't know when they will eat next. And it's not fair that you are wearing your clean pajamas that your MOM washed for you. And it's not fair that you are brushing your teeth because you know you get to go to the dentist to take care of your teeth so they don't hurt because your MOM goes to work to have dental insurance." At this point I stop because I'm pretty sure I've taken it too far - but it WORKED not another "unfair" complaint last night!