Brief Ramblings on Parenthood

I have heard people say to their children, "if you don't stop crying, I'm going to give you something to cry about."

This never made any sense to me. When a kid was crying, I was pretty sure they already had something to cry about. I decided early on that the people who said such things were just mean. And, I maintained that position until about 2 weeks ago.

Trevor was crying for reasons I couldn't understand. He was wailing and making a scene. It was just at home, but it was driving me batty. I thought to myself, "why is he crying? Why won't he stop?" I think I even asked him. I know I have before. For a moment, I thought I sure would like to give him something to cry about, so at least I could understand why he was making so much noise.

I didn't offer to give him something to cry about, though. I just gave myself something to think about, instead.

Offering to give a crying kid something to cry about makes no sense to the crying kid (or innocent bystanders), but I understand now how it makes sense to a parent.