Barbie oh Barbie!

We bought 3 DVDs when we were in Tg Malim. There is one shop sells cheap DVDs (and yes, it's pirated ones, you can critisize me for supporting pirated business, but I just couldn't help it, it costs me only RM5 per DVD and it's the DVD 9!). Since the twins love Barbie's movies so much (I love them too!!) I bought 'Barbie-The 12 Dancing Princesses' and 'Barbie as Mariposa'. And since I've longed to watch 'Enchanted', and we have found it at the shop, we bought that too. I was tempted to buy more, but restricted myself to buy only that 3.

The problem now, the twins insist to watch Barbie everytime they are at home. When we reached our home in Melaka on Sunday afternoon, we have watched all DVDs in one row. Yesterday when I came home from work, they were still watching Barbie. So overdosed of Barbie!! Then Maghrib time, dear cik HB switched off the TV, they started crying asking to put Barbie on. And I needed to cook, cik HB was praying and these two girls were hanging on my legs, crying "Umi, nak Barbie" over and over again. So I gave up and and put on the Barbie so that I can cook in peace.

But when their father has finished his prayer, he switched off the Barbie and change to the news. And of course they were crying and wailing, protesting for cik HB' act. And since cik HB did not entertain their request, they came running to the kitchen and disturbed me instead. Luckily, I've finished cooking so I managed to make them forget about Barbie by serving the dinner. And since they love soup and fried fish, they were willing to sit down at the dining table and enjoyed the food. Actually, they were not really eating, they just love to play with the food. That's why most of the time I don't let them eat on their own, I would feed them. But because I need to distract them from Barbie, I let them eat on their own. No doubt after that, they have created mess in the dining area.

After dinner, I thought they have forgotten about Barbie, but no, Nabihah still whining that I put on Barbie and she was so persistent about it. Cik HB said we don't have to entertain her, just let her cry. We must teach her to follow the rules. In the midst of her annoying crying, I tried to explain to her that she couldn't watch Barbie all the time, that there is limited time on Barbie or the cartoons that we set for her and her sister. Coming back from school between 6 to 7 pm, they can watch either Barbie or the cartoon networks. But after that, it's the parents' TV territory. I don't know whether she understand what I was saying, or if she understood whether she accepted it, but the crying was not ceased for the next one hour.

Actually I always be the weaker part compare to my husband. I can't stand the crying, so I prone to comply with their request. My husband always the stern one, he always set the rules for the twins. So when he scolds them, the twins always run to me for protection or simply to report. I understand that in parenting, when one parent scolds the kid, the other parent should not interfere. Though if we disagree with our spouse on his/her act towards the children, we should never point it out in front of the children. It will make the children think that we are supporting their act and also it degrades our spouse's self-respect. Not that I disagree that my husband scolds them, I also scold them but sometimes I think he's too strict. So if they come to me after being scolded by their father, I just say that they are scolded because they do not listen to Abah, so next time they must listen.

In Barbie's case, I totally agree with my husband that they should have designated time to watch TV. And not only TV, there are lot of other rules we have to set. If we don't enforce the rules now, I think it will be a lot harder to discipline them later in their life. Who says parenting is easy? My kids are only 2 1/2 years old but they already challenge my patience and my mothering skills.

I wonder how my parents survive in raising nine kids.............