Opinionated

Alert! Here comes some ranting!! In two parts.

Ranting part one: What is up with the use of "lol?" Way overused. Seriously. It needs to stop. I'd like to compare it's use to the "bless their hearts" theory. When I was working at Utah State, we used to have this joke about the phrase "bless their hearts." I don't remember who started it or introduced it. Whoever it was grew up in the south. They told us that you could say anything you wanted about someone if you started it or ended it with, "Bless their little heart." Like here's an example... "Bless her little heart...but she is messed up." It was kind of fun. And wrong at the same time.

But now this "lol" is all over the place. People say whatever mean thing they want to say in a text or as a comment on a blog or Facebook and then add "lol" at the end like it makes it all better!! Seriously?!? Krista, you have big feet. Lol. Krista, you need to brush your hair more than once a week. Lol.

Okay, so really I haven't been much of a victim of this. But friends and family have. I read comments and texts and I am straight up dumbfounded by the straight up rude things people say. As if adding "lol" makes it all better. The mean part of my self wants to just comment back to that person by name and say, "So and so: You're rude and dumb. LOL." So far I've refrained. Instead I'm ranting to you. But it makes me feel better. Lol.


Ranting, Part 2: Eye Rolling and Opinionated People on Parenting (opp)

Once upon a time I was on an airplane with my then 2 year old. The lady sitting next to me had a one year old that was just sad as could be. All around me I saw eye rolling. Strangers looking at other strangers...rolling their eyes at each other. My opinionated opinion? You are only making things worse. The more eye rolling this mom saw, the more flustered she became, the louder the kid cried. Since I had been training 12 hours a day, seven days a week for two plus years in the art of kid distraction, I tried one of my fancy tricks and I picked up my fancy Subway wrapper and made some distracting noise. What do you know?!? That kid stopped crying and wanted to play with my fancy Subway wrapper. I do not tell this story to brag about my mad kid distracting techniques. I understand I am still a novice. My point is that instead of rolling your eyes, HELP! And if you're not going to HELP, at least pretend to ignore! And please stop with the eye rolling!!

I see the eye rolling a lot in the stores too. And I hear people tell stories about what they said to other parents in the stores. And to be honest...I think..."You said WHAT?!?" My opinionated opinion is that unless you are the parent of THAT child...I don't think you should judge. I'm learning that. The same rules don't work for every kid. Just cause it worked for your kid does not mean it will work for mine. I'm sure I have a lot more of that to learn still.

And lastly, since I'm ranting...the other phrase that has been bothering me lately is, "Well, my kids never..." or "I never would have let my kid...." My opinionated opinion? Well, since you asked, my response would be simply, "And you were never the parent to that child."

I'm definitely not saying that I don't want parenting advice. I just don't want judgmental parenting advice with accompanying eye rolling.

Ah. I feel better. My opinions too harsh on opp's? Lol. :)