It all began with him making himself lunch. Now, you must know, this is something he has done a million times. He's almost fourteen so he's been fixing food for himself for years. Usually, it's an uneventful endeavor. However, on this particular day, it seemed as if nothing could go his way.
After picking out what he wanted to eat, he poured himself a glass of tea and put his food into the microwave to cook. As he was waiting for his food to get done, he came into the living room to set up a TV tray to eat on. He placed his cup of tea on the TV tray and went to move the tray from the side of the chair to the front of the chair. That's when the chaos began. As he lifted the tray up, his cup of tea tipped over and spilled all over the couch. To make matters worse, his sister was sitting in the spot where it spilled so she ended up getting a tea bath.
I guess you can imagine the drama that ensued. As if spilling the tea wasn't bad enough, he just had to dump it on his sister. She, being the drama queen she is, made it abundantly clear just what she thought of her brother and his tea. She was soaked, he was stressed, and the "Little Green" was nowhere to be found. Good times!
My being the awesome mom I am (not), managed to somewhat call things to order. I sent Serenity to change clothes, instructed Tyler to go ahead and finish getting his lunch and managed to find the Little Green.
In case you're wondering what a "Little Green" is, it is a hand held shampooer. It is WONDERFUL and a must have for anyone with pets or kids. Our Little Green is like a cherished member of the family.
Anyway, a few minutes went by and I noticed that Tyler still hadn't gotten his food yet. I saw him just standing behind the couch with this really blank look on his face so I asked him what was wrong. That's when it dawned on me. He didn't even have to tell me what happened. It's like I had some form of Mother's ESP. I knew he had dumped his food too. Can you believe it? Like the tea, he had placed the food on the TV tray, tried to lift the tray around the chair, and dumped the food into the chair.
For Tyler, this seemed to be the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. He was obviously very upset with himself and was saying that he couldn't do anything right. I must admit, he was a sight to see. He had apparently tried to catch the food as it fell so it had gotten all over the front of his chest. I think he was wearing about half of it.
I could tell that he was really taking things pretty hard so I quickly went about trying to ease the tension. I began to make light of the situation and assured him that we all have cruddy days. I told him we all make mistakes and that he would end up looking back on this in a few days and laugh. I was really joking with him and told him that I was going to get the camera, take a picture of the dumped food, and put it here on my blog so he would be sure to look back on it and laugh.
So, that's what I did. I grabbed the camera and snapped a shot of the dumped food. Forever capturing his chaotic moment in time. Here's the evidence of his chaos in action.
Tyler does look back on this now and laughs. Just a little while ago, as he was telling his uncle Jesse about it, he was laughing so hard he could hardly talk.
I think one of the reasons he has such a positive outlook about it now is because of how I made light of it when it happened. I could have gotten angry and snapped at him but I made a conscious effort to assure him that it was okay. I laughed it off and even took pictures for my blog to prove to him that it could be made into a positive memory instead of a negative one.
As parents, I think it's really important to try and not sweat the small stuff. This situation is a perfect example of that. Tyler's sister could be cleaned and the chair could be cleaned, but my sons morale and self esteem could have been damaged forever depending on how I reacted to it. Don't get me wrong, there have been times when I didn't handle things quite so eloquently, but I'm learning. I like to think that I'm getting better with each passing day. I'll probably have this motherhood thing pretty much mastered just about the time my kids are grown. Ha!
Long story short, LOVE YOUR KIDS! Recognize that they are human and will make mistakes. Learn to cherish them, and when possible, laugh with them even during those times. I promise, you'll be really glad you did. You will be creating a valuable memory together that you'll both look back on with laughter.
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