The Sunny Side of the Street
or Things Could Certainly Be Worse
In my household, we have what we laughingly refer to as "the worst mother of the day/week/month". I guess we all feel like screw-ups in the Department of Mothering sometimes, but there are the occasional doozies that make one cringe. At least a little.
For example, a week ago I received a new bottle of perfume in the mail that I'd ordered online. I was with my son when I opened it and he asked to smell the scent. I took off the cover and pushed the pump on the bottle and sprayed it right in his eyes. I was horrified and he was in pain. Fortunately, he was also laughing at the same time his eyes were tearing up. His eyes are fine and he likes the scent but I'm still shaking my head at my own carelessness. I forget to check the sprayer to see where the little hole was before I sprayed it. Duh. I gave myself the "Worst Mother of the Day" award for that one.
There are always smaller lapses. We all have them. I'll forget the "NO NUTS EVER" edict at their elementary school and blithely pack peanut butter crackers for my son. I catch hell for that at the end of the day. "Mom, are you trying to kill Billy? I didn't have any lunch. I had to throw it out!" There's a truly awful kid in my daughter's class who is allergic to nuts. Several times I've suggested--in jest--that she rub peanut butter on his desk chair. She is appropriately horrified but she still laughs. She is much too nice to ever, ever do that but it does have a certain Roald Dahlesque appeal. We are big Roald Dahl fans in our house.
Then there are the forgotten permission slips, the lost library books, the days when Kid 2 is "forced" to wear his mukluks instead of sneakers and is banned from gym class and so on. But it could be so much worse. I came upon this while I was trying to reach another site and I'm afraid it brightened my day in a perverse way. Things could certainly be worse in the Department of Mothering at my house. Thank Zeus.
In my household, we have what we laughingly refer to as "the worst mother of the day/week/month". I guess we all feel like screw-ups in the Department of Mothering sometimes, but there are the occasional doozies that make one cringe. At least a little.
For example, a week ago I received a new bottle of perfume in the mail that I'd ordered online. I was with my son when I opened it and he asked to smell the scent. I took off the cover and pushed the pump on the bottle and sprayed it right in his eyes. I was horrified and he was in pain. Fortunately, he was also laughing at the same time his eyes were tearing up. His eyes are fine and he likes the scent but I'm still shaking my head at my own carelessness. I forget to check the sprayer to see where the little hole was before I sprayed it. Duh. I gave myself the "Worst Mother of the Day" award for that one.
There are always smaller lapses. We all have them. I'll forget the "NO NUTS EVER" edict at their elementary school and blithely pack peanut butter crackers for my son. I catch hell for that at the end of the day. "Mom, are you trying to kill Billy? I didn't have any lunch. I had to throw it out!" There's a truly awful kid in my daughter's class who is allergic to nuts. Several times I've suggested--in jest--that she rub peanut butter on his desk chair. She is appropriately horrified but she still laughs. She is much too nice to ever, ever do that but it does have a certain Roald Dahlesque appeal. We are big Roald Dahl fans in our house.
Then there are the forgotten permission slips, the lost library books, the days when Kid 2 is "forced" to wear his mukluks instead of sneakers and is banned from gym class and so on. But it could be so much worse. I came upon this while I was trying to reach another site and I'm afraid it brightened my day in a perverse way. Things could certainly be worse in the Department of Mothering at my house. Thank Zeus.
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