Tuesday, January 11, 2011

On Being a Parent

Last night I got home from work after picking up the girls. After running an errand and being in traffic, we arrived home definitely into the "dinner time". Berlin gets super crabby when she doesn't eat, like someone else in our house who is not me or Tryn. And Tryn was super tired, hence also crabby.

The girls kept asking for snacks, but since dinner time is already a huge struggle these days I kept saying no. I decided that before I started cooking I wanted to change into the household staples, sweatpants and my electric blue hoodie that is at least 20 years old and the softest item of clothing in the world.

It took me all of 90 seconds to change.

When I came out of my room it was strangely quiet in the house. I wondered what in the world the girls could be occupying themselves with in their room that was keeping them so quiet and not causing any fights. On the way to the stove I stopped by the kitchen table to pick up some forgotten dishes from breakfast, not worried about the girls but just glad they weren't fighting.

Only, when I turned to the kitchen I found my children. They were on their knees in front of the stove with their heads down low to the ground. They were hiding. It took me a second to realize that the reason that they were hiding was because they each had a handful of chocolates that they had stolen from the counter and were unwrapping with fury.

Berlin had fully unwrapped a chocolate and eaten almost the entire thing, which probably means it was her idea. Tryn was still in unwrap process, so she never actually ate any. And you know what? Here's the kicker: I felt guilty! I figured that if she was going to go through all the trouble to be naughty that it was a bummer that she didn't even get to enjoy the spoils - especially because Berlin did. What kind of parent feels bad that their kid didn't get to be naughty?! I need to have my brain checked.

Anyway, I told them that was very naughty and they weren't allowed to do that. "You always need to ask Mommy if you want a piece of candy or chocolate," and then I turned around a laughed. I tried to laugh silently, but I was laughing so hard little squeaks kept escaping. I hope they didn't think I was crying. Except I was laughing so hard I almost cried.

Ah, parenthood. I love it.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Ben and I tell stories in bed at night and laugh at at all the crazy stuff the kids do and say. It's is sad they can't know how funny we think they are. I wonder how my parents did it, I never knew they thought I was funny. Ben's parents tell stories on him that drive me to tears but he never knew either.

Kristina said...

Two things while I was reading this: one, I was totally laughing out loud- I could just see the girls as I was reading and picture their frantic scurry to unwrap the chocolate. :) Second, before I'd gotten to the part about you feeling bad for Tryn, I totally felt sorry that she didn't get to eat any and Berli did :(...lol!

Douglas Dart said...

I like to think that sometimes God laughs at us the same way.