Monday, August 17, 2009

My Mortified Mother Moment

The other day the kids were playing around before bedtime (why is it that they become hyper and bouncy when it's time to go to sleep?), and Lucy did something that made Emma say, "Lucy, you look just like a man about to go to the bathroom."

I looked at her, totally shocked, and said, "And how would you know what that looks like?" I shouldn't have asked; I didn't really want to know, but I had to find out.

She answered in a mildly deprecating tone (as though I should know better), "Mom! We see men peeing on the side of the road every day on our way to school! And don't forget the wire statues in Sandton - those are peeing, too."

She's right, of course. I guess that's one of the 'joys' of living in South Africa. I've gotten so used to it that I don't notice it anymore. But my daughter? I had one of those Mortified Mother Moments in which I became temporarily irrational ("She's scarred for life - lost her innocence - what have we done, moving our family to South Africa?")

Thankfully my "freak out" moments are short-lived. When the sane side of me kicked in, I realised that it's actually sort of funny. It doesn't bother her in the least. And if I make a big deal of it, she will, too. Best to keep quiet and.... and...

.... shrug my shoulders. Oh well!

2 comments:

walking in love said...

kids are so funny! haha!

Chris said...

I guess we all have to learn what a man looks like as he's about to go to the bathroom someday, sadly.