Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Parenting 101

So I discovered today that there are cardinal rules of parenting that no one told me about. I have decided to compile my own list starting with this one...

Cardinal Rule of Parenting #1

If one of the objects in your child's life becomes integral to their happiness and your sanity, and it is battery operated, make sure you have plenty of spare batteries on hand!



Case in point...

Hannah had her shots yesterday as you are all well aware, however what you are not aware of is that her swing is her favourite comfort spot, next to Mommy. Well this evening she was super fussy(I suspect due to sore legs from the shots) so I gave her some Tylenol and cuddled with her until she fell asleep. I proceeded to put her in her swing so I could make myself something to eat. In theory the swing should have bought me a minimum of an hour possibly as long as 3 hours of free time. So I head into the kitchen and commence dinner preparation, grilled cheese and tomato soup were on the menu. Now anyone who has prepared this meal knows that it needs to be tended to and that there is a very small window of opportunity that can turn this into a tasty comfort meal or into a huge mistake. As I am getting ready to assemble the grilled cheese, and the soup being about half cooked the swing suddenly comes to a stop, promptly followed by Hannah
screaming! Now keep in mind that there is one piece of bread in the frying pan and various other portions of the soon to be grilled cheese, in various stages of readiness, sitting on the counter! Not the best time to walk away from this delicate and very comforting soon to be meal. What choice did I have though my poor daughter is screaming and my heart is breaking a little more with every cry, so I rush to her side after turning off the burners. I pick her up hold her close and rock her until she is calm, and then proceed to make and eat my comfort food single handedly. After consuming lukewarm tomato soup and half melted grilled cheese I strapped her in her carseat and headed out in the pouring rain to acquire myself four 'D' batteries. The things we do for our child's happiness and our sanity!

I am sure you can see how Cardinal Rule #1 would have been very helpful in this situation! I now have 10 'D' batteries to prevent this same scenario from repeating itself.

Talk about learning from your mistakes!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

With 3 kids 5 years old or younger, and all the toys that take batteries, and the swing being a huge important part of my 6 week old's life, we buy our batteries at Sam's Club. Frequently. :)

At least you didn't burn the grilled cheese. I hate burnt grilled cheese.

carmilevy said...

Even better: Future Shop sells nickel metal hydride rechargeables. They're not all that expensive, and you'll never be without.

We learned similar painful lessons with our kids. Since the NiMH doodads came out, we've been gradually stocking up on them, and the change in our whole battery-operated lifestyle is wonderful. No more trips to the pharmacy to get ripped off.

Anonymous said...

NiMH doodads?? Sounds like the Six Million Dollar Man!