Monday, March 11, 2019

Parenting

I'm at the dreaded Wednesday morning neurology meeting at the hospital. My colleague, Dr. Mom, is sitting next to me.

About halfway through the meeting her iPhone rang. She answered it, listened for a few seconds, then said:

“LOOK, Mr.-I-had-a-Bar-Mitzvah-so-now-I-am-a-man, I don’t care how well you did at your Bar Mitzvah, the fact that you forget your lunch at home - again - still makes you an irresponsible moron in my book and you can shut up and go hungry for the day to learn a lesson and if you call me about this again you’re not getting dinner either!”


Then she hung up.


We fist-bumped.

24 comments:

jono said...

Tough love in action!

Fleance Porschley Neckradish said...

"Will recite my Torah portion for food."

Chuck Pergiel said...

+1

Ms. Donna said...

Yea Mom!

Anonymous said...

That's horrible. I don't think it's ever acceptable to call your child a moron.

A. Marie said...

Tell Dr. Mom that this is the approach I'd take to child-rearing if I had any. ROFL.

John Woolman said...

Pity there's no vaccine to prevent the angst to child am parents of male puberty.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I’m all about tough love. Consequence (in this case hunger) for one’s action is often the best teacher. And I’ve employed said teacher many times myself. However, I would never call my child a moron or any other name. I mean, wow. Almost speechless.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Yom Kippur came early this year...

Anonymous said...

"And you still owe me an afikoman from last Passover."

Anonymous said...

The Torah refers to five sons: one wise, one wicked, one simple, one who does not know how to ask a question, and one irresponsible moron.

Anonymous said...

"Besides, don't you think 35 is a little old to keep talking about your bar mitzvah?"

Anonymous said...

lighten up people!
she didn't call her son a moron in the derogatory sense of the word.
Mother-love in action

Anonymous said...

This mom is the moron. I'm honestly shocked that people find this funny.

SwanSpirit said...

She was good, right up until she called him a moron. Sorry, not sorry.

Anonymous said...

Read the top of the Side Bar! "Factual statements may or may not be accurate" There is a good chance Dr. Grumpy inserted the "moron" moniker. Lighten Up!

Unknown said...

A teenager who forgets his lunch repeatedly, and phones his mum to fix it, is a moron.

What does he want, for her to leave work and bring it to him, or is he just calling to whinge about it?

Telling him he's being an irresponsible moron, when he's acting like an irresponsible moron, is part of a mother's job.

Kudos to Dr Mom.

jbt369 said...

"Mom?"

"Is that you?"

Anonymous said...

"And you'd better not complain about this as much as you did about your bris."

Packer said...

Dr.Mom will soon be paying someone to get Jr. Into Yale I suspect. Jr. Will soon be President of US. Cosmic destiny.of the meritocracy.

Anonymous said...

actually it is a perfect fit for how the tern=m was originally intended re early 20th century (as a medical term denoting an adult with a mental age of about 8–12): from Greek mōron, neuter of mōros ‘foolish’. He is claiming to be an adult but still has the mental capacity of a child.

bobbie said...

Love her approach, but not the name calling ~
I also agree with Anon @ 3/14 1:06PM

shash said...

Act like a moron, get called a moron. My dad's rule. Good call Dr. Mom.

Ami said...

7th-8th grade is my guess.
Cognitive issues go hand in hand with hormonal activity and huge growth.

Instead of making an issue and inflicting pain and a lesson on your child, how about you help him with a morning checklist? "Do you have your ____, ____, ___ and your lunch? I love you and I want you to have a great day!"

On the other hand, if it's your goal to keep your child from bothering you for help with anything, you're on the right track there, Dr. Mom. I'm sure by the time he's in his 20's you'll rarely hear from him. And perhaps he'll call his own children morons. Who says you can't influence your kids?

Oh. And I know that some schedules wouldn't allow for this. But wouldn't it be cool to drive to the school, pick up your kid and take him out to lunch?

I just don't have a lot of respect for someone so thoughtless. Perhaps her intentions aren't malicious at all and she thinks she's doing him a favor.

But you know, the research is out there. A doctor should know.

 
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