Ugly Is As Ugly Does

This afternoon as I was changing the sheets on the bed, the girls decided to make a game of running through the curtains around the sliding glass door. I'm all in favor of the kids having a good time, but not at the expense of spending a grand or more on replacing broken curtains. Unsuccessfully, I requested an end to the curtain game, nicely and succinctly explaining why.

In my short four years of experience as a parent, I have determined at least one fact - any parent or grandparent, who claims that they can calmly ask children to behave and the children actually listen the first time, is a liar. Or, they have selective memories. Or, their kids are developmentally challenged. I regress.

After asking my girls to conclude their curtain game three times to no avail, I caught Valerie's arm, pulled her out of the curtains and firmly asked her if she heard what I said. She angrily stared up at me. So, I repeated my initial request, "Please stop playing in the curtains so that you do not rip them off the wall."

I continued with my task of making the bed. All the while, Valerie stared at me, her face growing red and angrier by the second. With hands on her hips, she shouted, "YOU'RE UGLY!"

I was stunned - not from feeling insulted, but from wondering where she could have come up with such a comment. I responded that such language is not very nice. Further, if such language is repeated in our household, there will be consequences.

Most people, with the exception of a very select few, seem to think Valerie resembles me, while Dagny is a spitting image of her daddy. Unbeknownst to her, Valerie insulted herself just as much as she tried to insult her mean mother. As I shared this story with a good friend yesterday, my friend reminded me of the saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." I wish I had been witty enough to remember this phrase at the time of the exchange. In the meantime, I will stash this one in the arsenal so that I can be prepared for next time.