Words of Wisdom, courtesy of Jerry Seinfeld

Dustin and I are avid TV watchers! We owe a lot of this to our beloved DVR. If it weren't for him, we would not be able to watch that much. When we were newlyweds, our favorite sitcom was Seinfeld. I remember laughing our heads off every Thursday at 8:00 pm. We still quote the show, I think everybody quotes the show.

Is it any surprise that when he was featured in the Parade, part of the Sunday paper, I chose to read? Of course not! I was so surprised by this article. After reading it, I realized he was not only funny, but actually pretty wise when it came to parenting. I guess I harbor a lot of preconceived notions when it comes to celebrities and raising their kids. I'm sure I'm not the only one!

Here's one of my favorite parts:

Although his own children obviously want for nothing, Seinfeld works hard not to be too indulgent. He bemoans the way some people cater to their children’s every whim. Seinfeld has three rules of parenting, what he calls “the poison Ps.” The first is Praise—“We tell our kids, ‘Great job!’ too much,” he says. The second is Problem-solving—“We refuse to let our children have problems. Problem-solving is the most important skill to develop for success in life, and we for some reason can’t stand it if our kids have a situation that they need to ‘fix.’ Let them struggle—it’s a gift.”

Just as he’s explaining the third P—“Giving your child too much Pleasure”—a woman comes in the deli with her three young daughters and buys them all huge cookies. “Can you believe this?” Seinfeld says, gesturing like his TV counterpart used to. “It’s 5:30 p.m.—when will they have dinner? At 8?”

I laughed when I read this, while nodding my head in agreement. Even when he's serious, he can make me laugh!

I think kids these days are catered to way too much. I see a generation who is suffering from a HUGE sense of entitlement. What's wrong with making our kids work for things? What's wrong with them not having everything their friends have? Ryan asked the other day why he couldn't have a working cell phone (he has one it just has no service), or a PSP. I get tired of those questions. Are we that terrible for making our kids pay for half the Wii? They are almost there, and I think they will appreciate it a lot more. After all, it's not like I'm going to be the one sitting and playing it all the time. Why should I have to pay for all of it? And regards to the cell phone, I told him when he is sixteen, has a job, and pays for it himself he's more that able to have a working cell phone. When did it become a rule that a parent has to supply all the luxuries of life? UUUUUGH!!

I have seen parents who do everything for their kids. I watched as a parent lifted her 5 year-old daughter out of the car, closed the door for her, and held her hand as she came to the front door. I thought oh, that's kind of funny, she's 5! Then when I took her to school she waited for me to walk around, open the door, and help her to her classroom. I said, "Go ahead, open the door." She looked at me, confused. "I don't know how to open the door." So I got out and opened the door. She wouldn't get out. "Hop down," I said. She looked at me like I just asked her to jump off a cliff! She's FIVE!!! I said, "You'll be alright." She did it. I think she knew by then not to ask for help to her class. I guess my point in this whole story is, that kids need to do things on their own. That's how they learn to start solving problems. I will tell you at the end of the school year that girl did everything on her own, slowly and hesitant, but all on her own. I think it was great to see her feel like she could do things. She was always capable, her parents just needed to let her do it.

I could go on and on, but I won't just will leave you with one last quote from the article:

Has raising children interfered with his comedy? Quite the opposite, Seinfeld says. “Kids are a great creative corridor that I didn’t have before, didn’t know existed.”

I love this because I think raising kids is very comedic -is that a word? I laugh everyday because someone has done something off the wall! I heard things like this yesterday:

"Mom, if you were a pirate, what shoulder would your parrot sit on?"
"Can I wear these hunting?" Kate was holding up her purple camo pants.
"Mom you have beautiful bang bangs." Becca meaning boobs, she's obsessed with body parts right now. Of course I told her we don't make comments like that.

Kids are so funny! We need to take the time to laugh and enjoy them. Before we know it, they'll be grown and in jr. high! (I'm traumatized with that fact right now) Before we know it they'll be gone and off to college! We only get one chance to raise them!


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