Okay, so here's how the story goes. For once in my life, my children are actually "playing" together. That means, laughter, happy sounds, not screaming, screaching, pinching, hitting, etc. It's after lunch and I am enjoying the moment. Wondering what I should do with myself for the next few minutes until the happy sounds turn to unhappy sounds, my son comes in and says, "Mommy, we're playing together. Why don't you just sit down and rest?" Okay, so I should have at that moment suspected something was drastically wrong, but for whatever reason, I did not. I guess I was too caught up in the moment that they were actually having fun together. So, I decided to sit down and read a page or two of my new book "Setting Limits with your Strong-Willed Child." For me, that title should read, "Setting Limits with your Strong-Willed Children." So, as I am sitting in the chair reading, my son comes in a few more times happily saying he and his sister are playing hide-n-seek and he can't find her. Thinking that this is really what's going on, I tell him to go find her so I can read a couple more pages. This happens a couple more times and I begin to hear sounds that are more suspicious. I ask my son, "Now tell the truth, what is Hannah doing?" As I begin to get up--more like hop up and run, I hear water running in my bathroom from the tub---never a good sign. As I walk in I see m
y daughter and my son soaking wet, the floor is about a half-inch covered in water and in my bathtub I find every shampoo bottle and lotion bottle I own, an entire package of Q-tips, kleenex packages (now of course not usable), and well a few more appropriate things like bouncy balls. As they giggle and continue to splash one another I try hard not to laugh and well you know be stern. It's not possible to keep a straight face. You know kids will be kids and I've always heard the saying that kids are "naturally drawn to water." So, we mopped up the floor with a few dozen towels, put tennis shoes, shorts, socks, etc. in the dryer, and fished out soggy Q-tips and kleenex packages from the bottom of the "pool." The discussion afterwards was as follows:
y daughter and my son soaking wet, the floor is about a half-inch covered in water and in my bathtub I find every shampoo bottle and lotion bottle I own, an entire package of Q-tips, kleenex packages (now of course not usable), and well a few more appropriate things like bouncy balls. As they giggle and continue to splash one another I try hard not to laugh and well you know be stern. It's not possible to keep a straight face. You know kids will be kids and I've always heard the saying that kids are "naturally drawn to water." So, we mopped up the floor with a few dozen towels, put tennis shoes, shorts, socks, etc. in the dryer, and fished out soggy Q-tips and kleenex packages from the bottom of the "pool." The discussion afterwards was as follows:Mom: "Now Blake you are the older brother. Sometimes it is your job to help mommy. When your sister does something she shouldn't be doing, please do not join in her fun and please don't come tell a lie to me hoping I do not interrupt your fun."
Son: "Okay Mommy, but if we were naughty why were you laughing and smiling and not frowning?"
Mom: After a moment of silence as I pondered this response---"Well, honey sometimes its just better to join in laughter rather than get angry." (Wish I practiced that more than preaching.)
Moral of the story: When your 4 year old tells you to just sit down and relax-----proceed with caution. There is definitely a hidden agenda!
