It's Hard Work Being a Parent of a Honey Badger

For a long time we referred to Aram as a honey badger sparked from this video. 

In the begining he was a sweet little boy that loved his mommy and frequently only wanted "mommy [to] do it!" but followed his big bro around with big loving eyes and played with dad silly games. He had a sweet face and always posed for the camera like a cute little doll. He snuggled and loved to find the nook (a small space to fit into near or on a parent). He giggled and ran and jumped and smiled at people.



Then once he discovered he could be his own person and make
decisions that would impact others he made it clear that he would do just that. I mean, Aram has been strong willed for a long time and did not attach himself to people very frequently...if you were a stranger you were just that. He learned quickly he could make the situation be all about him in a matter of seconds---probably a good thing in this family. :)



Now a days, he can keep up with the swearing and yelling (a requirement to be part of this family, right Michael?) as if he was an old crotchety man. But most of all he is one of the most stubborn kids I know. I realized early on, that none of the parenting skills I had developed with Jas were going to work. Most of the time Aram either was overly sensitive/manipulative or was super stubborn.


Although he never actually did the hands on hips, stomping foot "make me!" scream, he has made it clear that traditional time outs and taking breaks from a situation or negotiating for decisions is not going to work. It was my wonderful co-parenting (primary parent, really) of a husband that pointed this out as I was holding the door shut to his room one day, as I was adamant about him taking a time out in his room. 

Now I can say, he comes by this stubbornness honestly. There is a famous (in our family)  story of how Grandpops and daddy (when he was a youngin') squared off one day. Daddy stuck on a stool in the corner for time out and Pops having to take the day off to enforce the need to stay there until an apology happened. The jury is still out on who won this battle and frequently the argument continues around a dinner table at holidays but Aram's stubbornness is in his blood for sure.

And now one step further beyond stubbornness, he has learned the art of manipulation in the verbal dimension. Just this morning, he was being told he needed to apologize after kicking his brother and making him cry and he said, but "BROTHER TOLD ME I'M GONNA DIIIIEEE!" which was not the case at all. The other statement he likes to make in order to lessen the reason for apology is, "but I am still learning." Which usually is just an excuse and not a real reason for his misbehaving.

People don't believe us about Aram's honey badger side because in public he plays with others well, loves on his parents and hugs his brother a lot ...that is until they have to play the parental role for a weekend or even overnight (Right TT and Jeff?). Babysitters have reported that they are not sure if they responded appropriately, as Aram was super emotional and stubborn unlike they had ever seen before.

Ok, Ok, Ok...I exaggerate a bit .... I mean look at this boy, how could he be a honey badger?