Pick a Side, Please
Okay, internet. I need you to pick a side.
On one side, we have a sixth grader. Said sixth grader COMPLETELY can't handle a thing I do. It annoys her so much that we end up going over it at least once a month. There is eye rolling and general annoyance and I CAN EXPLAIN.
On the other side, there's me. I fully admit that the sixth grader's complaint is true. It's not worth the Super Mega Big Drama she creates over it, though. In fact, it's totally normal.
That thing I do is that I can't remember anyone's birthday on the first try.
Meaning, if someone asks me for Alexis' birthday, it will definitely take me a minute to remember it and I might say the wrong answer. I do the same thing for Mila's birthday. I really was there when they were born, but I can screw up their birthdays every which way.
Before you decide I'm a monster, I think it's fair that I explain why I screw up such an important set of dates with frequency. My birthday is 1-23. Alexis' is 1-27. The husband's is 2-21. Mila's is 5-29. See it? See how we're 21 then 23 then 27 then 29? We basically all have the same birth day, so I flip them all the way around all of the time. I try to make Alexis' celebrate on the 29th and move Mila to the 23rd and I'm a mess.
And don't ask me what year anyone was born. I think I remember my own, but everyone else better hand me a calculator if they want me to remember the year of their birth.
I say it's completely normal to confuse important things. Heck, half the world runs through all of their kids' names when they're trying to yell at the youngest. There's nothing AT ALL wrong with my inability to get birthdays straight on the first try. Right? RIGHT? PLEASE SAY I'M RIGHT.
Alexis, on the other hand, thinks I'm a the Worst Mother Ever for screwing it up.
PICK A SIDE.
(Ignore the part where she's really cute and stuff. Cute doesn't make her right.)
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Reader Comments (6)
I totally would have been team Alexis. Birthdays have always been my thing. My birth date is my favorite number ever. And then I had a baby. A baby born 3 days after my birthday (and a day before Mila's! ) and I'm all kinds of mixing them up. And picking any day in between sometimes. I imagine it only gets worse with more kids. I think this is one of those things where she'll call you up in 20 years and say you were right.
Happy early birthday! (To everyone. See now I don't need to remember who's birthday comes first! )
I am Team Mom. Dates are not important to you. And you all do have basically the same birth date. My thing has always been dates and phone numbers. It's my super power. People call me to remember someone's birthday. You do not deserve the eye rolling and drama that comes with it. Make her the keeper of birthdays!
Give her a date calendar made especially for birthdays. She can fill it out and be responsible for notifying the family. Cousins, friends, families, etc can be added. My MIL did this and every year she transferred all the dates (6 sons, 6 daughters-in-law, numerous grandchildren), and she never forgot one!
I'm bad with birthdays, but I got lucky in that my husband and son have the same birthday so I just have to pause to get the year right sometimes. It confuses people on forms sometimes. Then my birthday is the same as 2 people I know in addition to the same as a cousin, and the day after another cousin's. Then there's 4 in September in my husband's family. My mom's is Earth Day and my MiL is a week later so I just add 7 every time. Then my dad's is in August and I always just remembered it was within a couple of days of school starting (24th) for me. Now my neice and nehphew are less than a week apart in March but I keep remembering that it wasn't St Patrick's day because a comment was made that we're glad it wasn't when he was born and now that's stuck in my head.
I always have to think for a second when they ask for one of my kids birthdays at the pharmacy or doctor's office.
This is the most fun at the Drs when they ask for your children’s birthdate and then say try again. The boys are the 20th and J is the 21st - basically interchangeable.