Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Broken

I hate when I have those bad mom moments. You know, the ones where you totally lose your cool and almost immediately regret and ultimately have to apologize. Inevitably those moments do happen. Especially when a) Mr. Man is gone for an extended period of time, b) I’m tired, and c) the dishwasher is out of commission and I’m it. Combine a, b, and c and you get me – last night. I lost it. It was a good 30 minutes past bedtime (but pretty much hours past my tolerance level) and after hustling through stories, bathing four children (and usually who can be upset when you have clean, sweet-smelling children?), and holding back from strangling THE whiner, not slapping the little echo nor seriously injuring the second mother, the worst possible thing that could happen did – (yeah, my evening was about as long as this completely un-grammatically correct run-on sentence). I went to go tuck in my little darlings, stepped into the boys’ dark bedroom and stepped on a toy with my bad foot and leg (as they both belong to the same). I uttered such words as should not be uttered in front of impressionable young children; I called the toy “stupid” and then I launched it across the room. Ironically it was a star wars spaceship of some sort, but the scene of it flying didn’t merit any “oohs” and “aahs”. I was instead rewarded with tears, and shocked expressions, as the toy was now broken, Daddy not here to fix it, and my hugs were unwanted after such a terrible display. I felt guilty, but I also felt validated in my actions – had I not asked them to pick up all their toys? I figured we all needed a good night’s sleep and it would be forgotten in the morning.

Not so. Little E carried the “pieces” around with him all morning. Loading everyone up early this morning he turned to our neighbor who was doing the same with her crew and announced, “My Mommy broke my toy. She yelled at me, threw it and broke it.” My neighbor turned to me with a smile and we both burst out laughing. I guess I’m not the only one who has bad mom moments!

17 comments:

singin'mama said...

This is true. We all have them. Some more than others, I'm afraid. I mean me!

Jodie said...

one reason I'm glad Clark doesn't speak yet--he can't reveal any of my "bad mom" moments. :)

Shawny said...

I had to chuckle when you revealed your bad word! I consider that pretty good self-control!

libbie said...

Gosh . . . if thats your worst mom moment, I will go ahead and not tell you all of mine! And they pretty much happen every day in my life right now! I gotta get a grip over here! I sure hope your dishwasher gets fixed! That is a nightmare right there!

Camie said...

Yes, yes we ALL have them! And so did our moms, and we turned out okay! I just hope we can say the same for little E's toy...just kidding!

Anonymous said...

I guess this means I will have to buy more Star Wars toys to replace Ethan's broken ones. Don't worry, I'll pick some up on my way home.

Enjoy,

Mr. Man

Anne Marie said...

We definitely all have those moments! My kids have definitely heard words worse than "stupid", although they are unfortunately old enough to call me on it now.

Topher said...

If legos were flammable, we'd have the biggest, baddest bonfire Kansas has ever seen. I'm so tired of stepping on those STUPID things.

Topher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hope said...

I have been denied some
Best-mother-of-the-Day awards as well. I call them my "cringing" moments.

Net said...

I can totally see little E saying that. Way to go mom! I hope Mr Man comes back soon. Let me know if you need a break! :)

Sarah said...

There's only so much a soul can take :)

Shauna said...

LOL! Love your bad word. Kids are so funny. I hear pretty regularly, "Mom that's a bad word." I think everything is a bad word at our house. Sorry you had a long day. Long days just kill me. I just want to go to sleep and start over in the morning. :)

Anonymous said...

I wish I could say something similar was the worst of my bad mom moments... I use your bad word on a good day. :)

Kristy said...

Oh, I got tired just reading your post, girlfriend. It is so hard at times! Good thing those kids are so stinkin' cute, isn't it?

Love the bad word. It's also verboten at our house, but when I used an actual bad word the other day (it started with a "D,") the kids didn't even realize it was a baddie.

Whew!

Amy said...

Hahahaha, I am still laughing! I thought the mitten story was funny, but this one was even better!
Stupid is considered a very bad word in our house as well. This last Sunday a young couple gave the talks in sacrament meeting and both used the word quite frequently. My girls were freaking out. Cambria kept gasping in shock and Kiera kept shaking her head in shame and horror.

Laurie said...

When I have bad mom moments, which happen almost every moment of the day, I make myself feel better by justifing that my children will grow up knowing that their mother was far from perfect, they will know how to recover from lost tempers and fits by apologizing and asking for forgivness because they see me do that on a VERY regular basis. I like to think of my moments as doing my children a favor.

Hang in there! And way to not say a really bad word!

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