Kids will be kids ...

My mum takes care of 2 girls (sisters actually) as a pastime ... and the younger one is the tigress of the pack because she is the boisterous, chatty, mobile and inquisitive one. The only problem is, she stands up to people and really test their limits. My mum sometimes have trouble handling her.

Now luckily, she fears me quite a bit. Ok, maybe a lot. So sometimes, when she turns on the defiant & cheeky side (especially when it comes to homework) ... she tries to play the fool with my mum. Mum's a softie compared to me, so I would sometimes walk in (I see them both after work as they go home later at night) when it's homework time and all I had to do was ... "take out all your homework ... NOW. If I find anything (which you did not take out) from you bag, that's it."

Voila, everything comes out. If mum asks her, she might take the mickey out of mum. And when mum asks her to do, she will dawdle, slouch, daydream & anything else except doing it. Until the Merciless General (me, of course) gives the ultimatatum (no prisoners, no negotiations) and she does it all.

But I think I am a fair dude ... I might be tough, but I reward her if she does her work as I wanted (chocolate or sweets or short TV show helps). So feared am I, maybe but as long as not hated. Kids after all, will be kids. Give them an inch & they ask for a mile.

Seems so different from my time ... sigh. But guess that's another ball game altogether.