The Things Children Will Do for a Little Attention

Children will take your mind to places that you don't want to go sometimes.  They will insist on running around when you want them to sit.  They will back-talk when you want them to be quiet.  They will touch things they shouldn't.  And worse, they will fight one another and then repeatedly come back to you and tell you what the other did as if the tattle-tale was innocent.

There are some things that I have personally noticed with my own children that I know other children do that I just wanted to post for those of you who have those days that you think you are all alone.

1.  They will exaggerate.  For instance, you take them by the hand or put your hand on their back to get them to move faster, they will act as if you pushed them down or they will stand firm as if they will not walk just because you touched them.  The idea is to get some attention from a witness whether the father, grandparent or a witness on the street so that they don't have to do what you want.  Ignorant witnesses or those who forgot about how children can be will try to play Savior when there isn't anyone to save.  What I do when this happens is, I firmly say, "Do not act that way.  You know I am not hurting you.  How about I let your dad deal with you...or what about that lady over there watching you?"  Sometimes I remove them from my presence or go elsewhere so that I won't lose my cool.

2.  They will lie.  Whoever thinks that their child never lies is a liar!  Sorry to be so bold, but I had to say that.  I have seen far too many children in my lifetime (I started babysitting in life and then worked in childcare before I had my own children).  They can tell a story with tears in their eyes and then minutes later smile.  You know when they are lying when they can't get the facts straight.  Don't repeat the majority of the story exactly each time.  They also have a suspicious look to their eyes or strange body movements when telling stories.  Check out this video on my YouTube page - nmenterprise7 if you haven't seen it already.  My niece and I are doing an improv about lying.



3.  They will act older than their age.  After may episodes of my children acting far beyond their years, it was safe to assume that they were getting much of their behavior from either being around older children and adults and they were watching shows that were older.  So what I started doing especially when they were really young was utilize more children's video and less TV.  Acting older does have its benefits, like one of my sons caught onto reading faster than all of them because he saw his older brothers reading, but the cons was that the silly sense of humor from older boys didn't look right on a 2 and 3 year old.  There were times when I separated all boys from one another and talked to them about anything I saw that was not age appropriate like singing certain songs that was meant for adults.

4.  They will either not eat or make a pig of themselves.  Whether they are showing off over someone's home eating everything on their plates and then asking for more or at home refusing to eat, they will frustrate you at meal times.  Today they like this thing then tomorrow not so much.  It happens.  Here is what I have done in the past (and even now if they tempt me) for those of you who missed this video years back.



These are just some of the things they will do to get attention.  Of course, they will interrupt your phone calls every chance they get.  They will take off running in a store, down the street, or parking lot at a moments notice.  The older ones may attempt to sneak out the home while you're sleeping.  They will avoid doing homework or purposely get bad grades because they think you don't care about them.  The list is endless, but to those of you who are angered by all this, I will tell you what my grandmother told me who had five boys and one girl, "Children will do these things.  So you had better teach them, because if you don't (the law) will."