Fathers Day seems like a good time to launch Parent Corner. I'm hoping this will catch on as an irregularly recurring series. It's inspired by the segment of the same name on The Bill Simmons Podcast.
The idea is pretty straightforward: just share a recent parenting anecdote or thought (ideally one that has happened since the previous parent corner).
What better way to describe parenting than ~mostly_harmless? As such, I'm volunteering @elvismercury's territory to house this series.
I'd love it if other stackers initiated these in the future, when they had parenting stuff to share.
My daughter (4 years old) has been making "swings" for her stuffed animals for the past couple of weeks. She's been greatly delighting in pushing them on their "swings" and, of course, making us do so too.
The thing is, these swings always end up looking like her animals have been executed by hanging. They swing from the top of our staircase down into the living room. If we didn't get everything tidied up from the day before, I wake up and go downstairs to be surprised by quite the gruesome scene.
It's such a stark example of innocence that to her it's just her stuffies enjoying a nice swing.
cc: @grayruby, @cryotosensei, @gnilma, @bief57, @anniedustan (apologies if I omitted anyone)
this territory is moderated
Children are bonkers. Mine are 9, 7, and 5. They have nicknamed me "bad dad." They got me an ice cream maker as a gift, knowing full-well this will produce ice cream for them.
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Absolutely brilliant plan
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apologies if I omitted anyone Not now but in a few months you will have to. I'm gonna be father in 4 months from now. I'm already filled with a lot of parenthood. Thanks to all who readily make confessions that their kids are smart enough to deceive their parents with ease.
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I wish it will be different for you 🤣🤣🤣 Congratulations!
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I think it will be more than this!!
My parents, younger brother and sister already making plans how they would teach my kids against me.
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Kids don’t need to be taught that. 😂 😭😭😭
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Oh man, that's a tough thing to navigate.
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Congratulations! I consider having a kid leveling up as a person. So big congrats to you for being able to level up soon.
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Thank you so much.
I would be levelling up - thrilling!!!
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That's so great! Many congratulations. Buckle up.
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Thanks! Once I'll reach there, I'll try to add up to our parent corner.
If you can consider pre-parenthood, I will happily make some contributions.
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Absolutely! I'd love to hear your experience so far.
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I have one for you.
I was driving to Walmart with my daughter yesterday and the sun was very bright so she was asking me what planets are hot etc. We discussed for a moment and then she said:
"you know, the chicks think there is a planet with a funny name"
and I replied "oh yeah, what planet is that"
and she replied "Ur anus"
Oh my god it was so funny.
So then I said "that was funny izzy but where did you hear that? Was it from your brother?"
And she replied "no, it was from the chicks"
I said "Izzzzzzzzzy that was not from the chicks, was it from your brother"
and she said "Yes, I heard it from him"
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Ur anus had been such a natural and long running joke. I remember joking about it with my elementary school classmates when we learned about planets in grade 6 science class. Then my daughter and older son were joking about it when they learned about the planets. And of course, older brother taught little bro about the planet Ur anus; it's a must.
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It's a solar system educational right of passage.
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I see they've inherited your very sophisticated sense of humor.
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Anus jokes, fart jokes, aren't really my thing but my son is of the age that all that stuff is hilarious to him. My daughter's delivery was flawless though so I didn't want to discourage her but I did tell her "it was funny but that is not really a joke for 5 years olds"
the "you know" before the lead in of the joke was high level execution.
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Anus jokes, fart jokes, aren't really my thing
Oh really? Explain this, then.
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I said "I am not going to make a Ur anus joke". Which was a joke about the joke.
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I did say it was sophisticated, didn't I?
Izzy's joke was also sort of about the joke.
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The little ones always come up with the most out of this world and funny ideas stemming from their innocence and creativity. I would like to share one from my 12 year old daughter though. I'm a big Harry Mack fan and the other day, I was watching his clip on rapping about the word hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.
My daughter walked by the computer, saw what I was watching, and said "Oh yea, hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. It means fear of long words."
Curious, I asked her "How do you know about this word?"
She replied casually, "I memorize very long words for fun." And casually walked away.
I guess that explains why my little one was reciting pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis over and over again these days. I thought she was just doing this one word, then was teaching it to her brothers. I had no idea she had been memorizing numerous long words. Sometimes your kids just get into things without you knowing, especially when they are older and have more independent thought.
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Even at 4, we have plenty of "Where did that come from?" moments.
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Yes, these moments just hit out of no where without you expecting it, all along their growth. Very fun and interesting to experience them.
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Do you have a German ancestors? That language fancies itself on long words and when you study them a little that actually make sense :-) Maybe subconsciously she is reaching out to your old family dna.... not sure, shooting from a hip here...
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No, I'm of Chinese ancestry, my wife too. Pretty sure 100% Han Chinese on both sides of the family, unless there was some German mixed in there from way back when by who know who. But I highly doubt it. I think she's just a show off and is learning these words to impress her friends or something along those lines.
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I really like the idea of this, i'll contribute for sure. I've got 3 kids - all totally different characters and i'm sure i'll think of many funny anecdotes to share.
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Awesome, I'm looking forward to hearing about them.
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It’s amazing how children link things up from random places since they don’t have any preconceived notions.
My son placed the vermicelli down the spoon slide 🛝 before he would eat it. I was both exasperated and amused.
Are you gonna let the swings die off (as she picks up another obsession) or tell her about the resemblance to hanging?
Thanks for tagging me!
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Why does the spoon have a slide if not to slide food down? This is flawless logic.
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exasperated and amused
I'm sure we can all relate to that combo.
I don't plan on telling her about the hangings until she's old enough that it's a fun and slightly embarrassing story. As far as I'm concerned it's perfectly harmless.
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Man, you forgot about me. I have two kids.
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Don't feel bad. If you look through the comments, I forgot a bunch of people.
Let's hear some parenting stories.
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Its okay. Last year was the first year my son and daughter ate vegetables straight out of the garden. Those little monsters munched everything!
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That's great. My daughter's been really excited about helping me garden, but decidedly not interested in eating anything from it.
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My son and daughter destroyed the grape tomatoes. It was funny to see the eat sour ones! haha You just have to plant ones they would like to eat. Last year was the first year I did grape tomatoes.
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I have an 8yo, his current passion is football ⚽️, or playing in general (he cannot sit still, he always wants to play, non stop). He also likes reading comics, and he's ok at chess... I've recently shared about him here: #568538
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My daughter's on pace to be very similar to your son. She's pretty much inexhaustible when it comes to playing, likes her picture heavy books, and is very interested in chess.
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Nice. I recommend chess.com, a very good resource for chess players of all ages. I bought a yearly subscription for mine, and he learns there on his own, at his own pace.
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