Have any of you had something throw you for a loop? Do you have children that say things, and you have no idea where it came from? Have you been put in a situation, by a child, that makes you laugh when you should be angry? Well I am here to tell you that kids will say things that scare you, flabbergast you and just down right shock you.
My day always started early. I had young children to deal with. Today was no different.
We had gone to town in the morning for groceries. This in itself was something that, was as trying as any one person should endure. Stopping young children from putting everything sweet, expensive or unhealthy in the cart was a full time job. Telling them that these things were not something mommy was going to buy was like telling them the world had come to an end. I had a budget but, somehow upon arrival to the checkout counter, there were always items that I had no memory of putting in my cart. Kids will be kids.
After grocery shopping, we stopped at the sporting goods store to look at some new equipment including a new soccer ball. The boys were excited at the thought of getting a new soccer ball to play with. They now had a yard and a place to play that kept them from the street and the abundance of cars that travelled by our house daily.
They found the perfect ball. Not expensive, but a little pricey for what I thought we could afford. They both stood in front of me with the puppy dog eyes and tears running down their little faces, saying "please mommy please". Not much they would do got to me, except that.
Now the tears of small children can melt the strongest man, woman and certainly any mothers heart. Tears can crumble even the strongest of wills. These two standing in front of me looking like they did, made my heart hurt. "Of course we can get the ball, I said". Then there were smiles, giggles, jumping all over and hugs. I think of the happiness that ball caused and I smile every time. Off I went with our new purchase and two very happy little boys.
Now everything was going fine until that fateful afternoon. We had been eating lunch and talking about the things that we were going to do that afternoon. Off they ran with ball in hand. I was standing in the kitchen doing the lunch dishes and the boys were out in the yard playing with their new ball. I looked out the window and smiled at how happy they seemed to be with their new found game. A few minutes later I looked out to find them both gone from sight. Stretching out the window, they were no where to be found.
Then there was a large bang, and pop from the street, then a crash and bang at the front door. Wildly afraid I ran to the front of the house. Walking in through the front door were two little boys. As I sighed with relief, in seeing them alright, out of the mouth of my oldest, came something that took me by surprise. His exact words fail me now (its been some 30 odd years since the incident), but they went something like this, " That damn son of a b**** just ran over my new ball". He threw the ball down and stomped off crying. My youngest was in tears as well. I just stood there. I was dumb founded. What do you say? He had taken me by surprise.
How do you get angry at this. You want to tell them that the language is not appropriate, but at the same time you are upset by the fact that they are so devastated about what has just happened. Under my breath I started to laugh. Not letting them see the way this had affected me was hard. I had to leave the room. I knew I had to say something about his language, but I had to find some modicum of composure before trying. After getting my giggling under control, I went into the kitchen, where they were both sitting at the table with long sad faces. Again my heart hurt. At this point, it was not an option to say anything.
Now over the years, things have been said and punishments, reprimands or corrections have been made to improper language outbursts. This was not one of those times. The sadness of two little boys, heartbroken because some butt had just run over their brand new ball, was enough to make it impossible for me to scold them. We did however have that talk at a later date. They came to understand the need for little boys not to say bad things.
To this day, I think of that little boy stating how mad he was and I start to laugh. You see, those words were not his own, they had to have come from his "loving" mother's mouth at some time. From that day on, I tried very hard to watch what came out of my mouth because "kids say the darnedest things".
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