The Tantrum Method: 'I screamed and stomped my feet until my poor mother lost her temper.'
by WriteWoman of Shoreview
Pioneer Press Bulletin Board
Posted: 04/07/2012 12:01:00 AM CDT
Updated: 04/07/2012 09:10:11 PM CDT
"A Cautionary Tale.
"Several weeks ago, I confessed to an episode with Ex-Lax that falls in the category of, I hate to say it, stealing! That wasn't the main point of the story, but it was the bottom line! Worse, I received no 'physical discomfort' for my bad behavior!
"Today I thought I would reveal another awful childhood indiscretion (one of the big ones you don't easily forget), which I still remember 60-plus years later.
"I was very, very angry at my mother for not letting me do something, or maybe for stopping me from doing what I shouldn't, or some other infraction of the 'house rules' (that part, I've forgotten), and I decided a tantrum would get me my way. I screamed and stomped my feet until my poor mother lost her temper (she was slow to get angry) and told me that if I didn't stop all the racket, she would throw a glass of cold water on me!
"Ewwww...she wouldn't...would she? I mean, she was very, very angry with my behavior...so I thought better of all the screaming and foot stomping in the kitchen and ran to her bedroom and jumped on her bed! Ha! Safe! She wouldn't want to get her bed all soaked, I was sure of that. I might have been right...had I not screamed that out at the top of my lungs!
"Oh, yes, she marched (I'm quite sure it was marching) into her bedroom with THE BIG GLASS of cold water and threw it all over me! Dumbfounded...I was just dumbfounded! (I don't think I knew that word at the time.)
"I ... never made a challenge like that again - ever!
"Moral: NEVER taunt an angry mother!"
