No Use Crying Over Spilled Goldfish

Today I was going about the hustle and bustle of my daily life. One child was crying, one wanted something to drink and the other wanted a snack. In the middle of all this chaos there was someone with an explosive diaper. As the wife of a firefighter, I know they have to prioritize and assess the scene, they go to the person that has the serious injuries first. As a mom, I do the same thing. In this case, the explosive diaper needed to be dealt with immediately.

Just when I thought I had this crisis under control and was ready to move on to the snack and drink issue, that’s when it happened. I hear a tiny voice say “uh-oh” from around the corner in the kitchen. Before I can even get up off the floor I hear laughing. Not just any laugh but a mischievous laugh from my two year old.  I race around the corner (literally two steps) to find an entire container of goldfish on my kitchen floor. They appear to have been stomped on to the point that they are no longer recognizable. Let me be clear before I move on, I do mean goldfish the snack not actual goldfish.

I was so upset at the mess I had them both help me clean it up. I huffed and puffed the whole time I cleaned. Why couldn't they have waited just one more minute? Why did they do this? This is a terrible day!

That’s when I stopped myself.

You see, this whole incident was really my fault. The boys would not have been able to knock the goldfish off the counter and stomp them into a complete oblivion had I not been the one to set them, unopened on the edge of the counter. I was upset with them for something that I had caused in reality. I apologized to the boys, explained to them that yes they had made a choice to make a mess. However, I left the temptation there to begin with.

Have you became upset over something your child did and now looking back maybe it wasn't really their fault? Maybe if you look inside your heart, it was really your fault. There is no time like the present to apologize if you have. Once you apologize mamma, give yourself a little mercy we all make mistakes in this journey of motherhood.