Crimes of the Mother

For a short time when I was a little girl, my family lived in New Jersey. I loved the junkyard across the street with a small creek running through it. I was forever bringing home "treasures" to share with my mom, who diplomatically tried to tell me to take the item back to the junk pile. Deer were often spied in our backyard, though not by me, by my older sister. Unless she was making it up to annoy me. "The deer was JUST there a second ago..."

We weren't in New Jersey for very long before we moved back to Ohio, but I have one vivid holiday memory from that time period. I think I was about 5 or 6 years old, and we were driving to Pennsylvania to visit my Uncle and Aunt. I was sick with the stomach flu, which must have made the drive especially fun for the rest of the family. I recall hearing my mom tell my dad to put me in the car with my pajamas on, and he made me get dressed instead. I was miserable. 

By the time we got to Pennsylvania, I felt much better. Good enough, in fact, to swipe a little box from beneath the Christmas tree and open it up. There were a pair of earrings, sparkling up from the white velvet. Just the treasure a little girl would want to find. Until she realized that she'd done something terribly wrong. So I hid the earrings outside the door, in the snow, and went back to playing with my sister. Naturally, my parents and my Aunt and Uncle called me out and I got quite a scolding for my thievery. 

Now that I'm a mother, I'm expecting my own child to repeat some of my mistakes, and I'm trying to remember to go easy on his first offenses. So far, his gaffes have been so full of innocence that I've had to fight against the urge to laugh or smile when they're reported to me, though I often fail. Lately we've had some difficult discussions at home as Henry struggles with goofs he's committed at school and his powerful desire that I not find out about them. Even the principal says she's caught herself grinning as she's trying to correct Henry's behavior. If trying not to laugh is my biggest challenge, I'm a lucky parent. 

Check back with me when my son is a teenager. See if I'm still trying not to laugh.