Friendly Parenting Advice

I'm not one to go around freely dishing out advice, but here's a good one I think I can safely pass along: The minute you say your child "has never" or "doesn't" do something, that's when it will happen. A case in point.

I was picking up things and trying to find homes for items in our new house. Todd has an Alien Maker that involves playdough and gooey slimy stuff. I mentioned that I trusted both boys implicitly, but I wasn't always sure of the other kids that we regularly have at our house, because you just can't predict other people's kids. We were blissfully commenting about how our children really "don't get into stuff and make huge messes."

Bad choice.

Two days later, Ben was playing with his good buddy Lauren. They were super happy and content, so I was working away downstairs. The washing machine was running, so I couldn't hear much of what was going on. But this little phrase did creep through my contented working, "Lauren, come jump in the swimming pool."

In case you were wondering, we do not have an indoor swimming pool on the second floor of our new house. However, when I went upstairs to investigate, I discovered that Ben and Lauren were trying to create one by pouring cupfuls of water on the bathroom floor. By this point, there was a good half inch in some places.

I wish I could say I responded with a sweet laugh, but I'm afraid a bit of the Cheeto mommy overcame me for a few seconds. I threw a towel at Ben and yelled at him to clean it up. He was crying by this time (I'm sure because of my tone and posture). When he didn't respond, I set him on the towel and began using him as a little mop to clean up the floor. If you're picturing a cute, fun little moment, it wasn't.

I do have to say that it really only took about 30 seconds to pull myself in check and laugh a bit. Then we cleaned up the floor together, while Lauren observed from the sidelines (probably thinking she had never seen me yell). I think we caught it before any lasting harm happened. Next time I hope I can laught right off the bat. I'm a work in progress.