Bad, Bad Mommy!

Bad, Bad Mommy!

I feel like such a bad mom! Last Friday Elizabeth was supposed to take some kind of chopped up vegetable to school. They made Stone Soup as a class project and I completely forgot. I didn’t send in anything!!!

What jogged my memory was a discussion of what life was like before electricity. Elizabeth pointed out that when Cinderella, Snow White, and all the other princesses were alive electricity hadn’t been invented, yet. She said they only had candles for light and books for fun. So then I started asking her how did she think they kept warm? How did she think they communicated with people far away? After several of these questions I asked how she thought they cooked.

It’s funny because for most of the other questions she had a clue what people did. But for some reason cooking stumped her. When I explained that they hung a pot over an open flame she said, “Oh yes! That’s what they did when they made Stone Soup!” All of a sudden I remembered that it was Monday and I missed sending in chopped veggies.

I felt AWFUL! I apologized a hundred million times. She said it wasn’t a big deal and she didn’t care… but I just wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

Maybe you are wondering why this upset me so… you see when I was a kid my mom never remembered to send in the things I needed for school. I was always the kid without. When other kids ordered those Schoolastic Books – I never got one because my mom always forgot. I never had a show and tell to show because my mom always forgot. I never had the art supplies we needed to bring in. It made me feel even more lonely, left out, and different than I normally did.

I know that at a certain point, kids have to start taking responsibility for themselves. Once I reached that age, I normally did remember for myself. But in kindergarten, first, and even second grade… kids don’t have the ability to do that. Or even to make their moms do it. The worst part was if I said something to my mom, she would say it was my fault… that I should have remembered. I swore I wouldn’t forget when I had kids. BUT I DID FORGET! I hope Elizabeth didn’t feel lonely and sad.