Twinkle: Fun Sink Withholds Much-Deserved Praise

You all can probably imagine that the Fun Sink family is not exactly effusive with their praise, which is a source of major problems for me because I like to be praised, adored, and sucked up to all the time. Fun Sink is not part of the positive reinforcement school of  child-rearing; where would her children be without all her ball-busting, nagging, and sad head-shaking when they (constantly) fall short?

I've learned to expect that sort of behavior toward Mr. Twinks, but I will never get used to it when when she directs it at my children.

So tonight we were Face-Timing for Baby B's birthday, and I took the phone over to E (who at that moment happened to be confined to B's high chair, devouring a packet of Fun Dip that she got while trick-or-treating at the zoo). Her mouth and fingers were green and she was very focused on extracting every last green sugar granule from the packet with her "Lick-A-Stix." 

They said their hellos, but phone conversations with two-year-olds sometimes require some prodding, so I said, "E--tell them what you learned how to do!" And when E says, "I go to the potty," I expect people--especially grandparents--to go freaking ballistic with praise. Do you know what Fun Sink said, y'all? She said, "Okay..." And no one else said anything. They were so nonplussed by Es's announcement that I actually thought they didn't hear her and I felt the need to say it again. 

I don't get these people. Going to the potty is a big, huge deal. It's so huge that I consider teaching it to be beyond my scope of parenting; I've potty-trained twice now and both times I have done nothing but wait for them to decide it's what they want. (And I've praised them, ironically enough. That's the one thing I have done.). So the fact that E was motivated to learn and then did learn and has come home from school three days in a row in the same outfit she left in, with no accidents, is a marvel to me. It requires a response of, "That is awesome, E! I am so proud of you! Let's celebrate when we get back from Connecticut!"

I've actually been kind of cool with Fun Sink recently. She's not bothering me, probably because I don't expect much from her. But I was very disappointed in her reaction to E's news. It's just a good thing E's success with the potty is not dependent on Fun Sink's attitude on the matter. E's motivation is candy corn--and y'all know Fun Sink won't like that one bit.