I was in the middle of making lunch, when my kids came running over to me with a box of markers.
“MOM! Mom. What does this say?”
“Ultra-clean washable markers.”
“What is the picture of the hands and t-shirt for?”
“It means it washes off hands or clothes.”
Interjection: Yes, I’m an idiot parent. When you’re asked a question every 2 minutes 9 hours a day, sometimes you don’t fully process the implication of what you’re being asked.
10 minutes later
“Lunch is ready!!! OH. Oh my word. Ok. Umm….”
Yeah.
I did. I did say they were washable.
As I stood in front of my 4 year old, mouth hanging open, he said two very important things.
“Well, you said they were washable!” Then he shrugged with a little smile and said “You still love me.” It wasn’t a question.
And in that moment, I felt like maybe, just maybe, I’m actually nailing this parenting thing.
Yes, I’m sort of an idiot for not seeing this one coming. Yes, they kind of suspected this wasn’t a good idea and then they did it anyway.
BUT…
My kids assessed risk, and my four year old knew that even though I didn’t like the choice he made I love him anyway.
When I asked my four year old about it at bedtime, he said “I just remembered that you say you will love me forever no matter what. So I knew.”
If I keep telling him, will it stick in his brain when he’s in middle school?
A teenager?
An adult?
Will a little voice in his head remind him that Mom and Dad will love him forever no matter what, and if he makes a choice we don’t like, he can tell us and we’ll help him?
I hope so.
I hope they always read the back of the box of markers, and I hope they always remember that I’ll still love them… even if they kind of knew they weren’t supposed to do something. That’s a much more important lesson than “markers are for coloring on paper”.