A three-year-old throws tantrums and begs his mother not to go to daycare. Worried, she goes in unannounced and what she sees shocks her.
“No, mommy, no!” Johnny threw himself on the floor and started screaming. Marla Evans sighed. Not again! She looked at her watch. If he threw a full tantrum, she would be late yet again.
She gazed at her three-year-old with exasperation. Johnny had been going to daycare for two years and always loved it. For the last week, out of the blue, he’d been making a scene, begging Marla not to take him.
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She’d spoken to her pediatrician, and the doctor had told her that toddlers often went through the ‘terrible threes.’ “Stop it!” Marla heard herself scream, then she saw the look of fear in her son’s eyes. Something wasn’t right.
Marla sat down on the floor next to Johnny and coaxed him into her lap. He sobbed, pressing his little face against hers. Marla decided this was more than a tantrum, but what could be wrong?
“Honey,” Marla said gently. “I’m sorry. Mommy didn’t mean to snap.” She rocked him until he stopped crying and asked gently, “Why don’t you like daycare anymore?”
Raising a child is about setting and respecting boundaries.
Johnny shivered in her arms and whispered, “I don’t like!”
“But why, sweetie?” Marla asked. “Are the other kids mean?” But Johnny wouldn’t answer. Marla sighed. “Baby, mommy needs to go to work, but I tell you what… I’m going to come and get you from daycare early today, OK?”
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Johnny sat up in her lap. “No lunch?” He looked up at her anxiously. “No lunch, mommy?”
Lunch? The worried mom frowned. What was happening with her son?
Marla dropped Johnny off after promising she’d fetch him before lunch. He walked into the daycare quietly but threw Marla a pleading look that left her heartbroken.
She went to work and asked her boss for the afternoon off to deal with a personal issue. Thankfully, her boss was a mom too and understood!
Marla was determined to get to the bottom of Johnny’s reluctance to go to daycare. She decided to drop in — not before lunchtime as she promised Johnny — but during the meal.
Johnny’s daycare didn’t allow the parents into the children’s playrooms or the dining room, but each door of the facility had a large, clear glass window. Hopefully, Marla would be able to see what — if anything — was going on.
When she arrived, the receptionist told her the children were having lunch. Marla walked to the dining room and peered in. The kids were all sitting at their tables, eating.
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A teacher or an assistant supervised each table. Marla quickly spotted Johnny. There was a woman Marla didn’t recognize sitting next to him.
As Marla watched, the woman picked up Johnny’s spoon, scooped up a portion of mashed potatoes, and pressed it against his lips. “Eat!” she cried. Johnny shook his head violently, his mouth firmly closed, tears running down his cheeks.
“Open your mouth and eat!” the woman said angrily. Johnny was looking deeply distressed. The woman cried, “You are going to sit here until you clear your plate!”
Marla saw a small portion of mince, mash, and vegetables left on Johnny’s plate, and she knew her son. Johnny was not a big eater; she never pushed it when he told her he’d had enough.
Johnny opened his mouth to protest, and the teacher quickly pushed the spoon in. Marla saw her son choke and sputter. She’d had enough! She opened the door and stormed in.
“Get away from my son!” she cried.
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The woman looked up, and her mouth hung open. “Parents aren’t allowed in the dining room!” she cried.
“Then they should be,” Marla said, reining in her anger. “Can’t you see Johnny’s had enough? He’s a healthy boy, but he is not a big eater. As an educator, you should know how traumatic force-feeding a child can be.
“Being forced to clean up the plate is an old-fashioned notion. You should be aware of the statistics and the causes of obesity and eating disorders in children.
“And one of them is making food an issue! My little boy is an active child, and if he feels he’s had enough, you need to respect that and not force him to eat.
“As for shoving food into a child’s mouth in that way, it is reprehensible! You should certainly know better. These children are not puppets for you to manipulate at will!
“They are little people with needs and a will of their own. If you don’t respect their boundaries, you teach them they don’t deserve respect. I don’t think that is a message you want to pass on!”
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The teacher flushed a bright red and got to her feet. “I never…” she cried.
“That’s a pity,” Marla said crisply. “Because if this happens again, I will ensure you are out of a job! I’m not sending my son to daycare to be brutalized!”
Marla walked over to Johnny and tenderly wiped his mouth. “Come on, honey,” she said gently. “Mommy promised you a treat this afternoon!”
Marla had a long talk with Johnny, and there was no tantrum the next morning. Over the next few weeks, she popped into the daycare at lunch times just to keep an eye on things.
The teacher never forced Johnny to eat again, and the boy recovered his good humor and enthusiasm.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
What can we learn from this story?
- Children and their boundaries should be respected. Johnny’s teacher was teaching him that adults had the right to impose their will on children against their welfare.
- Raising a child is about setting and respecting boundaries — theirs and ours. A child whose boundaries are not respected is insecure and has low self-esteem.
Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a little boy who learns all about love by watching how his father treats his mother.
This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone’s life.
Barbara Eden is 91 and still enjoying a successful career over 50 years after ‘I Dream of Jeannie’
Barbara Eden, who is 91 years old, has been performing for an incredible 70 years and is still going strong.
The actress, singer, and producer is most known for her role in the 1965 television series “I Dream of Jeannie,” though she had been on film for eleven years before that.
Many TV generations have watched the classic 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, which tells the story of an astronaut who brings home a 2,000-year-old female genie.
Fans watched and laughed despite the ridiculous premise because of Barbara Eden, the stunning and talented actress who portrayed Jeannie.
It might be hard for fans to believe, but Barbara is 91 years old now!
She hasn’t been seen on TV in her notorious harem attire in a while, but she is still going strong and staying busy.
Barbara’s life hasn’t always been easy, though.
Barbara Eden was born in Tucson, Arizona, in the United States, in 1931. Following her parents’ divorce, she moved to San Francisco and enrolled in the Conservatory of Music to begin studying singing.
Barbara grew up in Golden Gate City, where she played in neighborhood nightclubs with local bands. But in the end, she too decided to go into acting.
“Barbara, you don’t sound like you mean a word you’re singing,” my mother remarked. “Acting is something I think you should study too,” Eden recalled.
She then decided acting was a suitable fit for her and moved to Los Angeles, where she began appearing on some of the biggest shows of the 1950s.
She made her television debut in 1955 as a semi-regular guest on The Johnny Carson Show, but her role in the cult classic fantasy sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie” is what really made her famous.
Arizonan actress Jeannie played the enticing genie that astronaut and US Air Force Captain Anthony “Tony” Nelson (played by Larry Hagman) released from her bottle.
“We simply clicked,” Our rhythms were identical. Whatever we were doing, we were getting the same truth,” Eden clarified.
“I was really in love with him. There are some actors that you have to really try to like them. then you store it in a different mental box. But I never had to do it with Larry. He was there all the time.
She played Jeannie’s mother and her mean sister in the program over her five years in the role. Jeannie became well-known because of Eden’s harem clothes, which at the time was a touch too risque for television.
In 2015, close to the show’s 50th anniversary, she told Today, “Executives at NBC got very frightened.” “They tightened their rules regarding the navel.”
Eden asserted that the myth was really spread by means of an entirely separate, far earlier interview with the Hollywood Reporter, following her friend and columnist Mike Connolly’s ridicule of her over the issue.
Mike started making fun of my belly button when he first came in, and it quickly caught on and went throughout the globe. I would tease him back and we had a nice fun with it, but I had no idea it would turn into something.
The iconic ensemble additionally contributed to Eden’s rise to fame as a TV sex symbol among a host of celebrities, including Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy, who emailed her his phone number.
As stated in her 2011 memoir, Jeannie Out of the Bottle, the actress “binned the piece of paper, but I wish I still had it.”
Eden, who is 91 years old, has acted in more than 50 motion pictures.
In her most recent movie, My Adventures with Santa, which came out in 2019, she portrayed Mrs. Claus. Melissa Gardner made her stage debut as Melissa Gardner in the play of “Love Letters” the same year the movie was made.
“I feel so young!” Barbara continued, saying that she felt fortunate to be able to accomplish the work that she did. “I feel bad for anybody who, like my poor father, had to work in a job he didn’t enjoy every day. I take pleasure in what I do. I’m still employed.
Barbara said that she had continued to go to the gym, do spin classes, and lift weights until a few years ago. Now, a personal trainer comes to her house to help with resistance training, and they take a walk together.
The television icon declared, “I have a lot of friends.” “I’m not too bad at socializing.”
She even has a scheduled appearance in March 2022.
She remarked in jest, “If I’m around, I’ll be there; I really like it.”
In addition to writing children’s books, Barbara likes to act. Barbara, a little child, meets a “charming and wizardly Genie” who takes her on adventures that are a little bit like those in her well-known part in the novel Barbara and the Djinn, which she co-wrote.
She claims that because “now all they do is look at telephones,” she believes that her books will help kids understand the importance of reading.
Barbara brushes off the notion that “I Dream of Jeannie” would seem a little out of date to modern audiences.
This is a famous concept, come on, she said. “Twelve Hundred and One Nights”? This fantasy is really sweet and great.
And to be very honest, you know, she was in charge. She was anything but submissive.
Barbara Eden has led such an incredible life, enabled by her positive outlook and boundless enthusiasm. She is a true example of how age is simply a number.
If you also adore this iconic actress, do share.
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