Modern parenting should be an Olympic event. I mean seriously, it could be an obstacle type event. Shortest time out of the course, wins. To get to the finals, the tasks under each obstacle would get more complicated and you have to finish in a shorter amount of time. Modern parents would be natural contenders for this. It would actually be fun to watch. Lol! It would be a great chance to laugh at the daily chaos we manage.
Some days there’s so much going on it’s inevitable that something will be forgotten. Some days you don’t even realize that you’ve forgotten something until hours later.
Yesterday, was one of those days. I actually thought the boys and I were doing good. We got out of the house almost on time. The kids had their backpacks. Projects were done and in the car. Planners were signed. Breakfasts were eaten. Teeth were brushed–at least with one kid. Lights were turned off and doors were locked. It was good.
And then at around 1:00 that afternoon, it hit me! The kids did not have a key to get inside the house. I locked them out! Oh my god! Panic started. Midway through work, I started laughing (nerves) cause I realized my kids would be stuck outside. At first, I was like, ‘no big deal, they’ll be fine.’ But then, my over-active imagination took over and I all I could think about were my kids melting and starving on the lawn and all I would come home to are two puddles of mush.
Heart racing. Panic growing. I was frantically raking my brain for a solution.
I couldn’t leave work right away.
The hubster was out of town.
Hmm… who else can I pester?
Ah-ha! Sis-in-law to the rescue. Woohoo! She picked up the kids until I could get home.
Melting and starvation averted.
But of course, I didn’t expect to get a pass from this little incident too quickly. My children are not one to miss an opportunity to tease their frazzled mother and take advantage of mom-guilt. Surprisingly, they took it easy on me. A couple of bags of candy and all was forgiven.
I guess the lesson here is; we’re not perfect. Parenting is difficult and screw ups are bound to happen. What counts is that as parents we try our best everyday. Even on those days when no one seems like they’re listening or paying attention. The kids surprised me yesterday. By the time, my sis-in-law got to them, some time had passed, but they were fine. They did the responsible thing actually. They were not panicked and they remembered our rules. I guess maybe they do listen once in a while.
What I thought was a mom fail, was more like a mom boo-boo. I still can’t get out of locking them out of the house, but past lessons kicked in and they did fine.
Maybe the other lesson is that I need to learn to trust the kids more? Hmmm. Nah…. I’m not there yet. LOL!
