Thursday, February 28, 2008

Whining Makes Me Sick!

I love PBS. They have cute shows and I can trust that their content is cool for the kids - Most of the time. Sorry PBS, but you struck out with the show Caillou, in my opinion. For those of you who are not familiar with this particular show, it's about a whiny 4 year old named Caillou and everything is about him. I mean everything. His mother is so considerate of his feelings that it makes me want to scream!

Don't get me wrong, let's try to be considerate of our children's feelings but you have to draw the line somewhere. This kid's parents don't and I refuse to let my kids watch the show. It is also, I might add, where David learned to say, "Bad, Mama!" Yeah, I nixed it after that.

So now I just tell David that Caillou is whiny and whining is ugly. We don't like the show now. Most of the time he still begs to watch it but one day he said, "We don't watch Caillou, Mama. Caillou is so whiny and whining makes me sick." Me too baby, me too.

Because the more I think about it, whining does make us sick. It infects us as insidiously as does cancer or any other terrible disease. It sneaks up on us. First we whine about how our particular situation is tough. And sometimes it really is. But soon that's all we can see or think about. How everything is hard or frustrating and it's all happening to me! At least that's the way it is in my life. And before I know it, I can't see the forest for the trees. I can't see the good, only the hard. I can't see the blessings, only the obstacles. And I can't see the arm of the Lord coming to rescue and relieve me, I only see the hand of my enemy.

So, yes, whining makes me sick, spiritually, that is. It makes me sick and it's one disease that I have complete control over whether or not I get sick.

4 comments:

Hannah Hoffmann said...

That reminded me of what your child said to me at the zoo the other day. Eli was not too thrilled about having missed his morning nap, and he was whining from his stroller. David said, "Eli's whining like Caillou!" Too funny!

Anonymous said...

wow, that is such a good reminder on how important it is to be thankful for all that God has done and is doing.

Anna said...

I knew exactly what show you were referring to as soon as I saw PBS in your first sentence. My children were not allowed to watch it either. In fact, the minute I thought about it, I could hear his voice in my head!!! I just cringe and it sends chills up my spine!!!

Pajama Mama said...

Nope. No whiny Caillou in this house either. Blech.