Friday, April 06, 2012

I Won Two Parenting Awards at the Same Time

What were they?  Well Best Mom Ever and Worst Mom Ever!  Yep, I won them simultaneously.  Isn't that just amazing?  I am super talented that way.

I needed to buy Charlotte and new Easter dress.  I asked her what she wanted me to buy her to wear on Easter.  Her first response was, "a dress," in a "well duh what do you think" voice.  I laughed and asked if there was a specific color or style she wanted.  She requested pale pink or some other pale color.  I was shocked as Charlotte has not liked pink in a couple of years.

I found the perfect dress that I knew, with out a doubt, she was going to love, even though it wasn't pale pink.  The only small problem was I really would have liked to purchase it a size larger than what they had.  But, I decided I had to take a chance on it.  I proceeded to buy Charlotte matching shoes and a bracelet to go with it.  Then because the sales were so good I picked her up another Sunday dress and some school clothes.  And then I also found a pale pink dress that I thought she would really like as well and decided to purchase it as well to let her decide which one she really wanted to wear for Easter.

While shopping I also picked up a pair of Sunday shoes for Eliza Claire as I knew she only had sandals and they were not dressy enough for her Easter dress choices.
I then went to target to pick up just random stuff I needed.
I did not buy dresses for Ruby and Eliza Claire.  They are lucky to be the recipients of tons of hand-me-downs and I knew each one had 3 or 4 very fancy Easter dresses to choose from.  I also realized I had bought things for two of my kids but not the other two and knew someone was likely to be upset and feel left out.

I am a mean Mom.  I don't play the "everything has to be even" game.  If you need something, I buy it for you.  If you don't need something, I don't.  If that upsets you, it is your problem.  If you don't think it's fair, then you are learning the great "life's not fair" lesson we all have to learn at some point in our lives.

So, the kids get home from school and I proceed to show Charlotte the items I purchased from her.  She is giddy.  She tries on the dress that I thought was the perfect dress and is completely beside herself with glee.  She gives me the biggest hug and tells me I'm the best Mommy EVER!

I give Eliza Claire her shoes.  She loves them.  She's thrilled.  Ruby realizes at this point I don't have anything for her.  She gets grumpy.  Then she gets angry.  Then the fit starts, complete with screaming and crying and snot everywhere!  She tells me how horribly unfair it is.  She tells me I'm the meanest Mommy EVER.  She hates me.  She will not listen to me explain that she has three absolutely amazing dresses in her closet she can choose from for her own Easter dress.  She doesn't care that I have three containers of clothes for her to shop from for spring and summer clothing.  I went shopping and I didn't get her anything and she is not happy.

That is when I remember the bag from Target.  I rummage around in it and find the one thing I did  buy for Ruby.  A bottle of Claritin!  I hold it up and say, "Oh, look Ruby, I did buy you something!  I bought you a brand new bottle of Claritin!  And look, it comes with five free stickers, just for you!"  She grumped, and huffed and grudgingly took the stickers from me and was surprisingly somewhat mollified.

And yes, that is how I managed to win awards for Best and Worst Mom all in the same day.


Charlotte brought this pretty Easter card home for me
It says " Dear Mom, thank you for giving me a new Easter Dress.  Thank you for the other dresses too.  I love you.  Love Charlotte XOXOX

Did you notice that Rehm is not mentioned at all in this?  That is because he doesn't care one bit about what he is going to wear for Easter or who gets what.  Now if his sisters had all gotten video games and he had not gotten anything it would be a different story.  But for clothing, he was glad to be left completely out of the mix.
Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

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