Wednesday – An Honest Mistake
Apr. 8th, 2009 05:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermore.
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When my son is a teenager and he finds out I told anyone about this – not to mention that I posted it on the web for the whole world to read about – he will no longer claim me as his mother. "Mom!" he will cry, "How could you?!" If I wait until he's old enough to see the humor in this, though (say, at about the age of 30), I may forget about it. I have to write it down while the memory is still fresh and tickling my brain.
Sweet Pea, I'm sorry, but it's an amusing story. Maybe some day when you have a small son of your own you will forgive me for laughing so hard. I promise I love you. But funny is funny, and I can't keep this one to myself.
* * * * * * * * ^_^ * * * * * * * *
I got a call from my son's daycare this afternoon to let me know he was having a tantrum. I could hear him having it.
"I don't have all the details," Meridith the Daycare Director said, "only that he got in trouble so he's crying and kicking and throwing his shoes."
"Do you know what set him off?" I asked
"Well, it seems he pooped in the urinal, and..."
I choked a little. "Oh, no."
"And when they tried to talk to him about it..."
"They probably yelled at him," I said. I can't blame them; any adult would have yelled about something like that.
"Let me explain," I said, trying to sound like I wasn't laughing, "It's usually me who takes him to the bathroom when we're out in public, so he doesn't really ever see urinals. He didn't know that you can only pee in them."
"Okay," said Meridith.
I thought back to the weekend before last, when we went to a street festival in our town. We used the portable restrooms at them, and they had urinals in them. Since he only needed to pee, I told him he could use the urinal if he wanted to. It was a lot less scary than the pit with the blue water in it on the commode.
"It's a different kind of potty?" he asked.
I told him it was. I don't think I told him that it had limited uses.
"When he calms down, gently explain the difference between a urinal and a regular potty to him," I told Meridith, "Apparently, he didn't know and now he's upset that he got in trouble."
She agreed.
Then I called Jeff to tell him what his son had been up to.
"Pick him up early tonight, and give him a hug. He's had a rough afternoon," I suggested.
Jeff choked a little. "I bet he sure looked cute trying to sit on it," he said.
I bet he did, too.
Life is full of lessons that we all learn the hard way. Today, my little man learned that just because something can be used for one thing that something similar can be used for, it doesn't mean it the two objects serve all the same functions. For example, a car and an airplane can both be used for travel, but the car won't take you across the ocean very well. Likewise, a urinal and a commode differ in how they can assist you.
I, on the other hand, learned that it does not do to explain things halfway with anyone, no matter what their age. They will fill in the information gaps with their own assumptions, and there may well be a mess for someone to clean up when all is said and done.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * # * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
.
.
When my son is a teenager and he finds out I told anyone about this – not to mention that I posted it on the web for the whole world to read about – he will no longer claim me as his mother. "Mom!" he will cry, "How could you?!" If I wait until he's old enough to see the humor in this, though (say, at about the age of 30), I may forget about it. I have to write it down while the memory is still fresh and tickling my brain.
Sweet Pea, I'm sorry, but it's an amusing story. Maybe some day when you have a small son of your own you will forgive me for laughing so hard. I promise I love you. But funny is funny, and I can't keep this one to myself.
I got a call from my son's daycare this afternoon to let me know he was having a tantrum. I could hear him having it.
"I don't have all the details," Meridith the Daycare Director said, "only that he got in trouble so he's crying and kicking and throwing his shoes."
"Do you know what set him off?" I asked
"Well, it seems he pooped in the urinal, and..."
I choked a little. "Oh, no."
"And when they tried to talk to him about it..."
"They probably yelled at him," I said. I can't blame them; any adult would have yelled about something like that.
"Let me explain," I said, trying to sound like I wasn't laughing, "It's usually me who takes him to the bathroom when we're out in public, so he doesn't really ever see urinals. He didn't know that you can only pee in them."
"Okay," said Meridith.
I thought back to the weekend before last, when we went to a street festival in our town. We used the portable restrooms at them, and they had urinals in them. Since he only needed to pee, I told him he could use the urinal if he wanted to. It was a lot less scary than the pit with the blue water in it on the commode.
"It's a different kind of potty?" he asked.
I told him it was. I don't think I told him that it had limited uses.
"When he calms down, gently explain the difference between a urinal and a regular potty to him," I told Meridith, "Apparently, he didn't know and now he's upset that he got in trouble."
She agreed.
Then I called Jeff to tell him what his son had been up to.
"Pick him up early tonight, and give him a hug. He's had a rough afternoon," I suggested.
Jeff choked a little. "I bet he sure looked cute trying to sit on it," he said.
I bet he did, too.
Life is full of lessons that we all learn the hard way. Today, my little man learned that just because something can be used for one thing that something similar can be used for, it doesn't mean it the two objects serve all the same functions. For example, a car and an airplane can both be used for travel, but the car won't take you across the ocean very well. Likewise, a urinal and a commode differ in how they can assist you.
I, on the other hand, learned that it does not do to explain things halfway with anyone, no matter what their age. They will fill in the information gaps with their own assumptions, and there may well be a mess for someone to clean up when all is said and done.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
with their own assumptions
Date: 2009-04-08 10:26 pm (UTC)Re: with their own assumptions
Date: 2009-04-09 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 02:03 pm (UTC)If that's my purpose, I might as well get to work. ~_^
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Date: 2009-04-09 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 01:36 pm (UTC)I luckily stopped her before she peed in it.
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Date: 2009-04-09 02:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 02:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-12 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-13 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 03:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 06:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 01:24 pm (UTC)Poor kid, but it was an honest mistake. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 02:09 pm (UTC)