Soapbox

Guilt

So I’ve got this kid….  and as usual, he was hanging on my leg one evening while I’m trying to cook. I couldn’t even walk from the sink to the stove.  I don’t like cooking anyway, and this only made an annoying task more difficult. So I sort of shoo-ed him off, "Go play, honey"  so that I could get dinner started. He shook his sadly at me and walked away, and I heard him say, "No no Teeben, Mommy beesy."

Ok, he’s not even one and a half- how can he already know the exact perfect guilt-inducing thing to say? Most kids his age are still trying to master ‘dog ‘ and ‘cat’.

So of course I turned off the stove and supper was late, but sometimes playing trains or lining up all the little friends on the steps is more important than broccoli casserole on the table. And really,  how can you be too busy for your own kid? Especially one who will probably be able to tell me all too soon about all the ways I shortchanged him in his formative years.