The truth hurts.

I remember having to take one of my little kids with me to a doctor appointment. When the doctor came in, my child rummaged through my pile of clothes, and ran around the room waving my underwear. "Look, my mommy wears WHITE underwear." It's safe to say that I have been embarrassed by my children.

Owing me, you would think they would cut me a little slack. Not so. I walked through the high school parking lot to deliver a cell phone and pencil bag to my kids, which they had forgotten this morning. Imagine my surprise when, instead of gratitude, I was met with embarrassment and panicked looks for me to quickly leave.

It was true that I hadn't expected other kids to still be sitting in their cars---the couple in the car next to my kids stopped making out to see what parent was walking by...but it wasn't like I was wearing my pajamas. And it wasn't like I always go hang out by their car in the morning (I did drop off a forgotten lunch last week). So, feeling the sting of rejection and knowing that I was no longer the "cool mom," I took my wounded pride and limped back to the park to exercise.

I often do things to embarrass my children, but it is always on purpose. It is much harder to find that my kids are embarrassed by me. I don't know how to feel about that. Whether to go back tomorrow in my bathrobe and slippers carrying a large bottle of deodorant to give them, forget about the whole thing or to cry. Gotta love them.

2 comments:

Julie Ramsay said...

Monica is very embarrassed by me...okay I'm rotten to her a lot of the time so I deserve it. I wish I was cool...but that takes too much work. My kids embarass me all the time! The twins were touching tongues constantly while I was waiting for George to come out of school (do that in private...not in front of all the other moms)!

Anonymous said...

Your blog made me feel very sorry for you!!You are being very sweet.I have taken forgotten lunches/forgotten items before, but I can't see my kid--I have to leave it at the office. Maybe next time you should get out the bathrobe or tell them to go without their lunch!!