Oh NO! I'm like my Mother!

Yes, it is true. With each day that passes I find I am more like my Mother. And not really in all the good ways either. I am a terrible housekeeper. We don't have a filthy house, but it is (usually) not picked up. I am a pile person. I have a pile of stuff here, a pile of stuff there... and I am married to Mr. Clean. He likes the house neat and orderly. Did I mention we have 5 kids?

But I digress. The whole housecleaning/kids thing will be for another time.
Ways I am like my Mother.
The things I say. (Such as.)
"Because I said so." Oh Lord, this one used to bother me when I was in my teens. Not so much when I was little. It bothers my 3 year old to no end. I hear "But why Mommy?" 100 times if I happen to utter the phrase "Because I said so."
And it can almost become comical, like we are doing a bad rendition of Abbot and Costello.
"Kaecee don't throw your food on the floor."
"But why Mommy?"
"Because I said so."
"But why (or why not) Mommy?"
"Because I told you not to."
"But why Mommy?"
"Because it makes a sticky mess and then I have to clean it up."
"But why Mommy?"
"Because we don't have a dog to clean under the table."
(Here is where she changes it to throw me off track.)
(whining) "I want a dog!"
"We can't have a dog honey, not right now." (Thinking to myself, I already change smelly diapers, yeah, like I really want to be cleaning up dog poo too.)
"But why not Mommy?"
~~~sigh~~~

Another that goes along with the first is, "Because I said no." Re-read the above and just insert this phrase wherever the "Because I said so." is.
I do not remember my Mother ever yelling at us. I mean really yelling. Red in the face, can feel the blood pressure rising fast kind of yelling. She assures me that my kids were just like me when I was young. Just like me?! What?, whoa!, hold up! There is No way I was ever this... this... errr... energetic when I was young. Okay, so I did have the nick-name 'the white tornado' but that was just because... because... ARGHHHHH!!! Maybe it's true!

Okay wait, let me think about this. So when we grow up, we have children who act like we did when we were young, but we grow up to be like our parents were when we were young?
I don't know who to feel more sorry for- us parents, or our kids!

I just realized I digressed yet again. Another way I am like my Mother is how I feel about family. It is important. Meal time is important. Dinner in particular. I love cooking. (I didn't in my first marriage, because my Ex complained about anything and everything I made.)
I love fixing a meal that is well rounded like my Mom used to do. Veggies, meat, potato and salad.
A good, nutritional meal. Will everyone at the table like everything that is on the table? Nope, not a chance.
I tried to be like my Mom in this way too. "Take at least a spoonful of everything, and eat what you take."
Okay, with a blended family, that one is a little hard to do. And it took me a couple years of being a hard-ass about it to finally let go. It was the way I was raised. And those habits that I have taught my kids, are not the same as other parents have taught their kids. Namely my Husband's Ex. Her kids were taught that any old thing that they could pull out of the freezer and nuke was "dinner." And that cereal counted as dinner as well. We had a discussion on this. That's not the way that it works at our house. Sitting down to dinner with the kids is important to Jim and I. I hope someday it will matter to the kids too.

I have to say, all in all, I hope that I am like my Mom in my parenting technique. At least in some ways- the important ways. I admire her, and what she did for my sister and I when we were growing up. I don't feel there was anything lacking in my younger years., except maybe my Dad being around more. (They divorced when I was 8.) But my Mom was rock solid, a steady, dependable constant in my life. And I think kids need that.

Okay, I am going to end this one now before I get all sappy.