I was wondering why she felt the need to apologize. After all, I'm a mom. I get it. And that stuff doesn't bother me. Trust me, my kids have done much worse in public. But she didn't know that because I was kidless in the store. I realized that if I had told her that I had two kids, she probably wouldn't have been self-conscious about her own children's behavior. It's a mom thing. We know. We've been there. And yet we still think we are going to be judged by people without kids because they haven't been there. We think they wouldn't understand. We think we will judged on our ability as a parent (ie; if you're a "good" mom or a "bad" mom) based on our kids' behavior. Well, I left the store thinking, I'm never going to apologize for the things my kids do in public.
Ah, but there was my first mistake. I said, never. Word of unsolicited advice: Never say never, folks. Just don't. It's challenging Karma and let me tell you, Karma doesn't back down from a challenge.
Later that afternoon I had our last coed soccer game. Eddie brought the boys and of course, they were their lovely selves. Jadon, vying for attention in all the wrong ways. Zac, being a beast. Both of them fighting over everything in sight, which is actually kind of amazing considering there was nothing but grass. My team was getting water at half-time and so the shenanigans became more apparent to the public. Thus, I became more self-conscious of their behavior. And I did it. Less than 6 hours after I promised myself I wouldn't do it, I apologized for their behavior. And it stung. I cringed as the words left my mouth.
Everything I just wrote about not wanting to be judged based on your kids' behavior...I totally felt that! Not wanting someone to think I wasn't a "good" parent because my kids were acting like kids...I felt that too! Arrrrgh!!! Why oh why?!?
On another note, this made me laugh...
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