Apparently I am a bad mom.
I am cool with that.
I mom sent over some garden treats yesterday. The cherry tomatoes tasted like candy and the tiny red peppers were shiny and beautiful.
I popped a red pepper in my mouth thinking they were sweet bell peppers. HA! So wrong. Yes, they were sweet but it did end there. My lips burned for an hour afterwards. These gems will be delish in Fajitas, stir fry or chopped finely and put into pasta. They are lovely, I just wish I knew they were hot.
This morning, I was making lunches, ChatterBox was sitting at the counter eating breakfast. I congratulated her on the terrible job she did cleaning the kitchen after dinner last night. To her credit, she is good at looking sheepish and apologized. She will give it another go tonight after dinner. Enough said, change of topic. I mentioned the peppers her Grandma sent over. I proceeded to rely the story of how hot they were and laughed at myself because of the sheer stupidity of just biting into it KNOWING it was a pepper.
In between the story, I would ask lunch questions, “Nectarine?” She replied, “yes please.” Then the hilarity of events would continue.
I placed the nectarine in the pile of food for her lunch when she asked if she could try one now.
I opened the fridge and pulled out another nectarine.
ChatterBox looked at me like I had two heads.
“No, a pepper.”
I shrugged and said sure while I passed her the bag of peppers.
She pulled out a tiny red shiny bulb and proceeded to pop it into her mouth.
“OH SWEET MOTHER OF GOD WHY THE HELL DID YOU LET ME DO THAT!!!”
I looked at her bewildered because I had told her my experience of the peppers and yet she still wanted to try them.
Her rant continued,
“WHY do you let me do what ever I want? What kind of mother are you? Other moms tell their children no, but not you! You think its a good idea that I experiment and try new foods. Other moms would say NO. My friend’s mom never lets her do what she wants and is she cocky and arrogant like me? NO SIR! She is nice calm and shy. I, However, am cocky and arrogant because I get to try what ever I want like this pepper that might in fact kill me!”
She demanded water and I said milk will work better, but I gave her water because she yelled,
“I AM LACTOSE INTOLERANT”
I laughed.
Whatever…
I just kept looking at her, smiling.
The ironic part is, I often get lectured about the kind of easy-strict mom I am. I have a dress code my girl must live by, I demand for my children to think in terms of “is that appropriate? Could you share that with your Grandma?” If the answer is no – then they better think twice about doing it.
I am not the “my word is law” mom, I am “think for yourself and judge it against your values” mom. Then I become the “suffer your consequences” mom. All of these things circle around actions/consequences. I think it’s the best learning tool on the planet.
Mean while, I was still smiling as she left for school with her burning mouth.
It’s not like I didn’t warn her.
Musings of The Edmonton Tourist 