So yesterday I was hosting this big potluck for a large group that I didn’t know very well. I came home from work around 2:00, sat down on the couch to do computer work, and almost immediately fell asleep for half an hour. I NEVER nap, so this kind of startled me, but okay. Guess I was more tired than I realized. Made a cup of tea, puttered around straightening up — the house was already fairly neat, but there’s always counters to wipe down, etc.
Then the kids came home — they got their snacks, and then I got their attention and said hey, I’m having a party here tonight, please finish your snacks and then go upstairs so you don’t get anything I’ve already cleaned dirty again. They agreed.
Twenty minutes later, they decide to play outside instead. Great! Outside is even better than upstairs. I keep working, until the next thing I know, I hear shrieks of laughter, and turn around to find that Anand has someone found an old dirty sock outside, FILLED IT WITH DIRT, and is now swinging said dirty sock around, sending clouds of dirt everywhere it bumps into — tables, walls, etc.
I admit, I completely lost it. I yelled at him for throwing around dirt; I yelled at Kavi for not making him stop or at least not telling me he was doing this. I am not normally a yeller, so the kids aren’t used to it. Anand burst into loud tears and ran upstairs. Twenty minutes later, Kevin and Kavi came down and asked if I needed any help cleaning, and then *I* burst into tears. I was just SO, SO frustrated.
Hugs and kisses all around, and then K&K helped with the last half-hour of clean-up (there really wasn’t that much to do) while A stayed carefully in bed watching tv and playing video games so he wouldn’t make any more mess. All was restored to normalcy.
Should I have expected a 7-year-old to be able to make the connection that dirt is dirty? Opinion is divided on that front. But I admit, I was having a lot of sympathy for the parents in that Korean video that’s going around — poor parenting moments happen. Hopefully, our kids quickly forgive us for our occasional humanity.
The lack of my boys’ ability to determine what might/could/probably will happen if they do a certain action is a continual surprise to me…and my oldest is almost 12…