Parenting the Bonehead Brothers - The Early Years

Exactly how the Bonehead Brothers turned into themselves is a really good question.

Did they COME this way or did I MAKE them this way?
It’s the old question of Nature vs. Nurture.

Well here – you decide…………

I just read a blog about a lady who had a little problem with her preschool age son.

He came home talking about feces and where they come from. His mom told him that his language was not appropriate. He didn’t really care that much. He continued his potty talk and she presented him with a pickled pepper to eat. Much to her chagrin, he LIKED it. The potty talk continued and she gave him a squirt of Bath & Body Works Foaming Pineapple and something else soap. He promptly swallowed it and proclaimed it delicious!

So she was looking for advice.

We used Tabasco. Yep. When someone said a naughty word (I can actually only remember this happening with one Particular Child), I had him open wide and stick out his tongue. I poured a tiny little puddle of the hot sauce and voila! Problem solved!

He hasn’t said “Butthead” to this day!

Wait………now that I think about it, maybe the problem wasn’t solved

When this Particular Child was older, he had a bout of heartburn. He told me that during school, his heart would stop beating for just a second or two. And it was excruciating. Hmmm…….

I finally figured out that fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), his heart wasn’t STOPPING. He was experiencing heart burn. He loves spicy foods – really spicy foods. Peppers, jalepenos, hot salsa, habanero sauce, really hot salsa, Chilula are all a part of every meal.

We eliminated all spicy foods but there didn’t seem to be much improvement.

Then, I walked into the kitchen one day and there he was….standing in front of the spice cupboard. He held a tortilla chip in one hand and the bottle of TABASCO in the other. He poured a ½ teaspoon or so on the center of the chip and then ate the WHOLE chip.

“Particular Child! What are you doing?”
“What? You said I can’t have chips and salsa.”“You can’t eat any spicy food.”
“I’m not! This isn’t spicy!”

So at the tender age of 3, we merely traded one problem for another.