Skip to main content

Unpredictable

 It's always risky to take a shower while the children are loose...unsupervised.  I walked out of the bathroom the other morning to be met by one three-year-old in her underwear wielding a hammer and a badminton racket while the other three-year-old was covered from fingertip to forehead in Smokey the Bear stamps.  

I gave them the only logical response in that moment, "Out of my room, please."  And locked the door.  

After a five minute pause, I reentered their world to learn that the tennis racket and hammer were for destroying monsters.  Naturally.  The stamps?  She just wanted them.  The big brothers?  They made their exit as soon as they heard me coming.  

Kids are infinitely unpredictable.  

The boys are treasure hunters as of late.  Fischer's prize: rocks.  He is confident he will discover gold, but in the meantime, pretty rocks are a close second.  He found some real gems the other day...well, not real gems, just colorful rocks that he cleaned up.  He negotiated with his brother on their worth.  Sawyer confidently told him he would pay a thousand for the largest one, although Fischer felt it was probably worth substantially less.  It's hard to argue with nine-year-old confidence when you're seven.  

Turns out, Fischer is a salesman.  After he cleaned up his cache, he met up with a neighbor friend who was in the market for a nice Christmas gift for his mom.  Fischer showed him his precious stones and gave an account of their supposed market value, "they are worth thousands." But this was a good friend, so he was willing to make a deal.  For the low, low cost of five dollars, he'd part with the best and brightest of his collection.  His friend, knowing to take advantage of a steal like that, quickly emptied his piggybank and returned with a ten dollar bill.  Seeing as he didn't have change, Fischer didn't some quick thinking, made a couple of calculations and determined he could actually part with two of his best rocks for $10.  They made the exchange, both very happy with their end of the bargain.  Fischer tossed the rest of the rocks over the friend's fence just in case he needed a couple more later and ran home to tell me about his generous exchange.  Meanwhile, his friend explained to his father how he had made a purchase of precious rocks worth thousands, for just $10, and excitedly explained that they were for his mom for Christmas.

To the dad's credit, he didn't immediately call me.  

I gently told Fischer not to make any more sales without first clearing it with Ross or myself.  After, having him assure me he would not, I texted the friend's family, apologized for my son selling their son our yard debris, and we came up with a plan to return the $10 without diminishing the generosity of the gift to his mom.  It was a bit of a dance.  In the end, it all worked out, and hopefully we all learned a lesson about good commerce, prudent sales, fact checking, something!

...This kind of stuff never came up in parenting classes.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Little Bit Dicey

 This might be a little controversial.  I try to steer clear of such topics in this space, but it needs to be said.  Take it as you will, but know that it comes from a place of love, concern, and respect.  Here it is: there is a right  way to cut an onion. Now, I'm not saying this to try and get anyone's dander up.  I'm just saying it's a subject that needs to be addressed in kitchens across America.  There may be more than one right way to skin a cat (I can't say I've tested that), but the same does not hold true for onions.  Please, you can teach an old dog new tricks - learn how to properly cut an onion.  It will save you time, frustration, onion tears, and possibly a finger.     Now, since I'm still sitting here on blogspot like it's 2003, I'm not going to post any how-to videos, but I'll do the next best thing.  I'll paste a link right here .    Check it out.  Practice it.  Make it a habit.  T...
Post a Comment
Read more

Advanced Placement

 Not to brag or anything, but I think we are raising some very advanced children.  At two-years-of-age, our girls have already worked out the art of manipulation and deflection.  It's the antithesis of endearing.   They went missing the other day - the girls did.  That's never a good situation.  They were in the house, and I knew they were in the house, but I couldn't see or hear them.  Silence is the loudest alarm system.  Fischer took action and found them both in my bathroom.   "MOM!" I met them in the hall.  Carter was covered in clumps and blobs of hand cream. "Emi did it," was her unsolicited response.   "No," I told her.  "I think you  did it." That night I got ready for bed and pulled out my one "self-care" splurge - my face cream .  It was in my drawer where I always keep it.  The lid was screwed on.  And it was empty, wiped clean.  "EmmmeerrrrrSON!" Guilty.  They were both ...
2 comments
Read more

How to Tame a Toddler (and other myths in parenting)

I used to think I had started to hone my parenting skills.  Fischer was a much more mellow toddler than Sawyer, and I credited Ross and myself having the experience of one child under our belts.  It turns out, I was wrong.  Fischer was just a more mellow toddler .  That, or we have substantially regressed in our skills since having the twins.  It could be that. They are terrorists.   Nobody and nothing is off limits.   Our walls are covered in crayon and pencil.  Our new kitchen table has been branded with marker.  There is crayon on the windows.  My cupboards and drawers are empty.  My counter tops are full. They have figured out how to climb up on the table, and how to climb onto the windowsill and over the back of the couch, how to climb out of their cribs, and how to climb out of their clothes!       Our boys did not do these things.   I wasn't prepared.   I thought we had a plan...
Post a Comment
Read more