Water Wars…

So today is Sunday, and I guiltily admit that I spent a large part of it working. One of the down sides to working from home I guess…

Nic and Rob were at a Go-Karting party (something my ever greying hair was not up for today!) and so I stayed home with Jason & Danny. They are the best playmates at times, and today was one of those times. I was at my desk, and they were in the lounge playing with ‘guys’.

I was obviously very deeply buried in my thoughts because my mom radar was malfunctioning. You know the one that suddenly brings you to awareness that things are WAY too quiet… or the one that alerts you to that REAL cry… or to those naughty giggles…? Yes, that radar. Well mine was clearly in snooze mode because that ‘naughty giggle’ only slowly pushed its way through to my consciousness… when it was already obviously too late.

My ears suddenly pricked up and the giggles finally broke my concentration and made me sit up straight. Too afraid at what I was too slow to discover, I simply called “Uh… guys… what’s going on?”

Nothing like mom’s voice to stop a naughty giggle dead in its tracks! And my reaction…. DREAD! What have they done this time? Visions of previous events begin to run through my mind. Did one of them pee on the floor again to pretend it was the puppy? Have they decided to replant the pot plants again with naartjie seeds to save us money? What work of art did they draw on the coffee table this time? Did I put away that permanent marker I was using to write on the gift? OH NO! The scissors… where did I leave the scissors?!

The answer…. “Nothing mom. Daniel’s just cleaning up water. As usual.”

Hmmm…. so what were my choices? Run in there and freak out? Or force myself to sit in my chair and say “OK, as long as it’s good as new once you are done. Thank goodness you aren’t making more mess!”

So I chose B. And when I did eventually brave the scene, there was nothing to see. I subsequently found out that the Star Wars guys were having a battle and Obi Wan managed to destroy the Droids by drowning them, and then making them lose footing by smearing the water so that they slid ALL OVER the WHOLE battleground. Hmmm… and yet, the only evidence of this major battle… a grubby, soaked dish towel… hung back over the oven door I might add.

I teach parents that mistakes are learning opportunities. I’ve grown to realize that loving my kids AND their mistakes – no matter how crazy!- is a gift I can give them. Ultimately, they’re not really mistakes, they’re my ‘writing material’, my classroom stories, and the tales their grandparents entertain their friends with. Do I sometimes get frazzled and want to say “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”… of course. But these are the moments I get to test my parenting skills, and get to grow as a parent and a person. I talk to my kids all the time about making good choices, and so it’s quite nice to sit back once in a while after something like this, that could quite easily have turned ugly, and realise I made a good choice for a change.

Yes, water all over the laminate wood floor is really not ideal… but in the grand scheme of things, is it the end of the world?

And for a Sunday afternoon, the floor looks much better than normal!