.
Sometimes I forget how little he is.
We were throwing maple seedlings and watching them whir to the ground.
Amidst the fading grass and tinges of autumn, I found a bright red bead.
A berry.
"Look Boo, a berry! It's so pretty, but it's not edible!"
"Mommy, can we eat it?"
"I just told you it's not edible!!"
Mopey little boy. Looks down at the leaf-strewn ground, mumbles,
"I don't even know what edible means."
I feel this small.
4 comments:
Don't feel small - sometimes when we are rushing to protect our kids we forget they may not understand the grown-up reasons we do.
It reminds me of the time we took our kids to Glen Echo Park in DC. The Girl had discovered running, and was quite a handful. As we were bundling - well TRYING to bundle - everyone in the car, she scooted off and headed toward a ravine that separated the parking lot from the park. She got on the other side of the protective fence, at which point a guy who was closer to her ran and grabbed her. By the time I got to her, I was panicked, and hollered, and of course she cried. But she got how scary the situation was, and never did that again.
You know you're a good mama, no need to feel small about the little stuff.
I've been coming to the realization that I often forget how small my son is. It's a mistake many parents make. Fortunately, these little moments of clarity are built into life to remind us and humble us.
I use words all the time that my girls don't know or understand. Sometimes it's a teachable moment and sometimes it isn't. Em walked around our house the other day with my yarn wrapped around her ankle. It unraveled a part I had been working on a long time. I yelled at her "You could not possibly be that ignorant not to know it was there." I yelled very loud too. She looked at me and said what's ignorant? I then yelled even louder that I was mad because she should have known it was there. I still didn't explain ignorant to her. It's so hard sometimes to do the right thing. More than often we don't even mean to come across the way we do. Don't beat yourself up. We all have days like that.
I am guilty of this all the time. All. The. Time. But - truly - what preschoolers DOESN'T recognize words like "edible" and "masticated" and "animal feces?" Oops. See what I mean?
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