Thanks to Jane Hambleton, I’m not the World’s Meanest Mom
– except in Junior’s eyes of course. Anyway, Jane, if you didn’t
know, is the latest parent to make the news for doing something
truly shocking: parenting.
Thanks to Jane Hambleton, I’m not the World’s Meanest Mom – except in Junior’s eyes of course. Anyway, Jane, if you didn’t know, is the latest parent to make the news for doing something truly shocking: parenting. Apparently, Jane found alcohol in her 19-year-old son’s car and she sold the car as punishment. The ad she placed in the paper read:
“OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for 3 weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.”
Hello? Am I the only parent who thinks that Jane totally rocks? The woman made a rule (no alcohol in the car), her son broke the rule and Jane did the unthinkable. She punished him. And she stuck to it. Holy cow, I say that woman deserves a medal. And it gets better. Not only did Jane place the ad, she sold the car. And she didn’t turn around a week later and buy her son another car.
And, if you need further proof that Jane should be Mother of the Year, her son has steadfastly maintained that the alcohol wasn’t his. And Jane believes him. And she still sold the car. How unbelievable is that? I don’t know that I would have the guts to go through with it.
Come on, admit it. Anyone who has come into contact with a child knows how hard it is to enforce the rules. And for some of us (OK, ME) a pout and a pleading look from big brown eyes is practically a guarantee that all will be forgiven and a “no” will magically transform into a “yes.” Please. They make children cute for a reason. It’s so we don’t end the human race entirely.
But parents like Jane give me hope. She makes me think that if I work hard and stick to my convictions, someday I’ll be resistant to the lure of the big brown eyes. That one day, in the not too distant future, I will make a rule and enforce it. That I, too, can be as “mean” as Jane.
Of course Jane is getting accolades from all over, praising her meanness. Oh, sure there have been a few complainers. But I strongly suspect that several of her critics are themselves 19-year-old boys who live in fear that their parents will follow Jane’s example and start doing random car searches.
On the flip side of Jane, we have a mom, Priscilla Ceballos, whose daughter won tickets to a Hannah Montana concert by writing an essay about her father dying in Iraq. The only problem was that her father didn’t die in Iraq and Priscilla admitted the lie. What the heck was she thinking? Who lies for concert tickets? Look, I’m not a big Hannah Montana fan (although if you are keeping track of pre-teen trends, I’m also the only parent on earth who hasn’t watched “High School Musical.” They haven’t invented an earplug/eye mask combination that would successfully block out the sights and sounds enough for me to consider a viewing).
But even if John and George came down from heaven and reunited with Paul and Ringo, I wouldn’t allow my son to tell a lie to get tickets to the concert. Well, maybe for that one. No. No, I would stick to my convictions, just like Jane. I would not lie, even for that. At least I don’t think I would.
Anyway Priscilla justified her daughter’s lie by saying that “we did what we could to win.” Um, OK – but who is the loser? Could it possibly be … hmm, I don’t know … her daughter? Was it really worth it, just so Priscilla could be a cool mom? Because you know that’s what motivated her. That’s what motivates all of us to turn a “no” into a “yes.”
For me, that makes Jane my heroine, not Priscilla. Jane is a mom I can look up to and try to emulate. And the very next time Junior breaks a rule maybe I’ll be that much stronger in my saying “no” and sticking to it. After all, I have resisted watching “High School Musical” for a while now. If I can do that, I can do anything.
In fact, I think Jane is the Coolest Mom on the Planet, not the meanest. And I suspect that when her son becomes a parent, he’ll think so too.
