The Wife

35: It Continues

"I... we're not watching this." You shut off the television as every channel broadcast what you assumed your husband and his troupe make off with the bounty of the underground auction. He was setting a bad example for your children.

"I'm gonna draw Daddy!" Zenko called out as he furiously scribbled on the paper in front of him.

"I'm gonna draw Mama!" Akio declared as he crumpled up his old paper.

"Boys, take the marker away from your sister, she's going to draw all over her face. She's practically got a mustache." You requested as you went to check on the cookies that were in the oven.

"Here Chouko, let me do it!" Zenko took the marker from her and proceeded to scribble on her lip with the dark green coloring utensil.

"Do wha— ZENKO!" As you turned to look you nearly lost your shit. "Frickle frack!" you used kid friendly language, "sometimes you make me so mad I could just— ERG FRACK"

You marched over, yanked the marker out of his hand and picked up your delighted daughter.

"Don't draw on anything but the paper, how many gosh darn times do I have to say it to you, Zenko Morow? Behave better! You're just awful tonight." You were laying it on thick, but to be fair this was the same kid who had just throw a massive tantrum not two hours earlier.

"You're awful..." Zenko scrunched his face up and turned back to his drawing.

"Don't talk back to me, just obey me. You know bett— HEY" you turned back around just in time to se him ruefully scribbling on the wall next to him. Setting Chouko down, you ran over there, grabbed him by the tiny arm and yanked him to his feet. "You don't ever do that. I told you paper only. You're done. Clean up your markers and you're going in time-out for not listening to me. Four minutes."

"NO!" Zenko wasn't having it today "YOURE AWFUL AND I HATE YOU AND IM NOT GONNA CLEAN STUPID MARKERS YOURE STUPID AND DADDY HATES YOU SO HE LEAVES US BECAUSE OF YOU!"

His little words cut deep, but you steeled yourself. If he wanted to play this game, them you were more than ready.

"Clean your markers up and go sit in the corner. Now." You warned icily.

Zenko screeched as he struggled against your grip and tried to bite and kick you.

"One..." you began counting. "Two..." he wasn't slowing down "three. Alright say good bye to everything and you're going to bed. Say 'Good Night Aki, Good Night Chouko'"

You let go of him and picked up all his markers and his drawings, crumbled them into a ball and deposited them in the trash.

"No cookies for you either. Only good boys get dessert."

"NO NO NOOOO" He screamed as he fell in front of the trash cans "MARKERS MAMA MAMAAAAA" His little face was red and splotchy as he wailed. "I WANT DADDYYYY"

"Don't 'MARKERS MAMA' me, kid. I don't care. And Daddy wouldn't do any different and you know it. He wouldn't have given you all the chances I did. Now march. To bed." You pointed at the room that was right next to your current room. After all, you couldn't leave the kids unsupervised.

"You threw Daddy away!" Zenko screamed into the ground. You walked over and picked him up, putting up with the kicks and flailing arms as you carries him to bed.

"You did, Zenko. We talked about this."

"I hope Daddy kills you." He said venomously.

"Let's call him and ask him if he will, just for you then." You took your phone out and dialed his number.

AN: Quick edit (Months later lol) I've seen a lot of comments about literally beating this kid (scary!) and I want to point out that that's not cool! Parenting is a really hard, really difficult thing to do, but it never has to be violent. As a teacher, survivor and as a child advocate, I've worked with children who come from abusive homes and I know most, if not all of you would never actually hurt a child (especially your own!) but I felt responsible enough that I wanted to make a note so I didn't have to respond to each comment that's up. Mostly, I'm just seeing harmless (mostly) jokes about chanclas and things like that, which honestly isn't concerning, but again, to not say something at all would make me feel irresponsible so here I am babbling away.
What's really bugging me actually is this separate, harmful narrative that this "passive" parenting (The reader is not passive! She handles it calmly and effectively) is a "white" parent thing (this also means you might be incorrectly assuming I am white for writing the reader like this). It's not. And beating your kids isn't a person of color thing. Violence is not a person of color thing. Love your kids and parent without violence when and if you choose to have kids <3
Love ~ Author (who loves parentheses)