{Hers} “Mitch”

It’s Monday morning and the Little Miss and I are on our way to summer school.  No different from the Monday before that or the Monday before that EXCEPT we almost got run over.  Might I add that I have been rear-ended twice this year and on one of those occasions the Little Miss was in the car with me and the Mr.  Literally we almost got taken out by a lady who was on a mission, seemingly determined to take us out and NOT to lunch.  When I swerved (something you are never to do but thankfully I saw that there were no cars beside me so I knew could do this) she didn’t so much as blink but what I did see was what appeared to a tiny smirk on her face.  And NO I wasn’t seeing things.  Immediately an explicit term only intended for doggies, the girly ones, slipped out of my mouth.  It did.  It slipped.  I have no idea how it even got in my mouth to begin with and when it rolled on out I was shocked and speechless.  I grew quite waiting for what was to come.  I knew the Little Miss heard me and seconds later came the dreaded words “Mommy what does @#*$! mean?”  “Huh?”  I replied.  That’s how I know I was off.  I replied saying “huh?” I am a fan of pardon me or excuse me but “huh?” oh no.  Use a real word please.  She asked me again repeating the dreadful word.  My heart pained as I heard such an inappropriate term (when used in the context I used it) come out of her precious 6-year-old mouth.  She must have known it wasnt a good word because she asked me again with a big smirk on her face.  I decided to own up to my mistake. So rather than wracking my brain for rhyming words – ditch, I said ditch (after all there are a ton of them on this street) or itch! This stupid itch is really bugging me.  Can you scratch my back later? Nope.  I confessed.  I explained to her what the word meant and that sometimes people use it to refer to a another person when they are not being nice.

#mommyFAIL

I thought to myself 1.  How am I going to teach her not to call names and I just got caught calling one 2. Did I give her more information than she really needed to know? I mean did I really need to explain what it mean 3. Does this make me a hypocrite 4. What just happened here?  I’ve worked so hard to monitor everything I say and I completely fell short here. There are so many words in the dictionary.  Why in the world did I pick this one?” 5. Lord forgive me. 

I literally spent the first half od my day reliving this moment.  Sure I know people say things that are way worse  all the time but I don’t and I’m her mother.  I’m supposed to be a positive example.  I know how to monitor what I say so how did I manage to let this happen? How did I lose control of my tounge.

I apologized to the Little Miss for what I said.  I explained to her that it was not ok and had her promise me she wouldn’t use such a word.  ( I was a kid once so it’s very likely that she one day might but I’m hoping that she will have such an extensive vocabulary list that she won’t resort to that particular word).  She offered to promise not to tell anyone what I said but I explained to her that it was ok (I called the Mr. right after I dropped her off.  I wanted to tell on myself before she told on me). I explained to her that  Mommy made a mistake and that it wasn’t ok.  She said she wouldn’t say @#*$! if I gave her my iphone password but in the end decided that she wouldn’t try to bribe me or use such a word.  Thinking back I probably would have had her help me come up with other words I could say when if I was upset. I know some but perhaps it could have been more of a “teaching moment”.

When I got to work I went on facebook and turned to a 200 of my closest friends.  I once again confessed my sin (hey I felt convicted so for me it was a sin) and got several responses from my friends assuring me that I was not the worst parent ever and that I really am human which means sometimes I mess up.  Thanks friends!

Later that night the Little Miss came in the room and told me that daddy asked her what I said (the Mr. seemed humored by this as he knows how particular I am about what the Little Miss hears).  For most of the day I thought to myself “maybe she will forget”.  Who was I kidding?  In this family the ladies never forget (well scratch that – tonight I “forgot” to do the dishes).  “What did I say?” I asked.  “Mitch?” she replied.  “Huh?” I replied (there I go again…).  I didn’t feel the need to correct her on this one and quickly changed the subject.  “Wanna go get a slurpee?!”

And so my lovelies that was how I began my “happy Monday”.  Now that I’ve shared my parental pitfall please do share with me.  Have you ever done or said something in front of your children that you regretted?  How did you handle the situation?