We had a wonderfully calm thanksgiving together as a family. Toby cooked up an amazing feast. I baked some pies. It was relaxing and easy. We did not discuss politics because Toby and I are in agreement and the kids would rather play Minecraft or beat each other up with pool noodles made to look like lightsabers. Toby and I played chess. We built a fire and wore sweat pants. It was easy, which is exactly what we wanted.
On Friday, we decided to visit my parents. I have always been very close to my immediate family. We travel together. My parents visit us every week. They take care of the kids. My mother was at the birth of my first child, for goodness sake. My brothers live in other cities, but we stay in touch. (Although, my youngest brother is no longer speaking to me, but hopefully that blows over because I like him.) Anyway, we have always been very close. And, as I mentioned in my previous post, life is short. So we decided to visit and NOT discuss politics and instead just hang out.
The drive is not long. They live in South Jersey. It’s about an hour and half drive down the Garden State Parkway.
Right after we start off Toby says, “Boys, it’s SUPER important that you don’t bring up Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton with grandma and grandpa. Just don’t. We are going to play and have fun and NOT discuss Trump. Do you understand?”
They all nod in agreement. Even the two-year-old—the kid who loves blurting out Trump’s name at the strangest moments because he always gets a hilarious reaction—even Walter nods in agreement but not before yelling, “DONALD TRUMP!”
Elliot continues, “Donald Trump is ugly, stupid and has a big butt!”
They all giggle.
“Seriously, boys. NO TRUMP TALK.”
“OK. We promise.” Elliot says.
A few exits later, Emory spots a car with a TRUMP bumpersticker. He says, “I can’t believe he wants to build a wall around Mexico!”
Elliot yells, “I KNOW! Donald Trump is so stupid!”
Walter screams, “DONALD TRUMP!”
All three of them giggle again.
Toby repeats himself, “Boys it is SUPER important that you NOT bring up Trump during our visit. We don’t want to talk politics. Let’s just have a good time and not bring up Trump. Ok? Can you guys promise that? No Donald Trump?”
They all nod. “We promise.”
About 30 minutes later, we pull up to my parents’ house. My father is sitting outside waiting for us. The boys are SO excited to see their grandparents; they can’t wait to get out of the car and run in and totally destroy their home. My father walks up to the car to help Elliot out of his car seat. As soon as he opens the door, Elliot yells, “I’M MAD AT YOU, GRANDPA! YOU VOTED FOR DONALD TRUMP!”
…
I can relate on so many levels! My 9-year-old hates Trump with the passion of the young. Trump is stupid, Hillary should be the new president, he will miss Obama. OK, so I agree with him on all of that, but that is beside the point… Anyway, it has been very difficult trying to teach him the fine line between “having a strong opinion” and “finding words that allow you to be honest with others without using the words stupid, blowhard, or various other epithets.” He doesn’t understand why it’s not socially acceptable to voice his opinion in the strongest words he knows. “Why do I have to be nice to a man who says lots of people are bad?” he has asked me. All of this parenting makes my head hurt. Someday I will have the answers and be able to follow my own advice and model good behavior. Or not.
Blowhard! HA HA HA! Your son would be in excellent company here.
Oh man! Kids indeed!
Funny.
By the way, my mother also attended my births. As did my sister, her toddler, my older daughter when I had the younger daughter, and of course the husband. A real family affair. I had my daughters at Familyborn Birthing Center. My 33-year-old was one of the first births and my 20-year-old was one of the last births and then I heard they closed down due to insurance reasons. Sad. It was such a wonderful experience, sorry others won’t have that opportunity.