I recently had a mommy moment that made me laugh until I cried. Cried out of incredibility. The things a distracted mommy will say to a whining boy without even thinking about it...until it's already out. 

Every night when the kids finish dinner and their fruit, they get to pick a desert. They call it "candy" because for awhile we had Halloween candy and they would choose from there. Now their choices range from Hershey kisses to granola bars. They get excited about deciding for themselves what they get and it's nice bribery for eating dinner and waiting for everyone to finish. Plus, it's a little treat and who doesn't like that?

One evening I left the table to do something and B asked for me to give him his candy. I told him daddy would do it and went into the other room. I heard daddy trying to give him his choices but he kept yelling for me to do it. Daddy gave up and when I returned I asked why he didn't let daddy help him. He said he wanted to wait for me. I distractedly replied that while that was nice, if someone is offering him candy he should just take it and be happy.

Yes. I'll stop for a moment and let you reread that sentence.

A sentence that I actually said OUT LOUD to my kids.

If someone is offering you candy, you should just take it and be happy.

Just take candy from anybody who is offering.

What. The. Heck. 

As soon as I said those words I stopped, said, "No, that's not what I meant..." and then daddy cut me off and explained that he was just trying to help, all the while shaking his head at me. 

And then I started laughing. I couldn't stop. Like belly laughs, snorting included.

I had just told my children that if someone is offering them candy they should just take it. 

Oh my--please don't call the parent patrol on me.
{P.S. If you love reading about my parenting missteps (because there are a lot of them and I write about them all. the. time.), check out Cars and Tunnels, Noisy Acting, or No More No.}

xo Sara

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