One of the best days of my parenting life, was when my kids were old enough to play at the playground and I could sit down on a bench and not have to supervise (too much!)
I remember bringing a book and actually reading it! I remember having an actual conversation with my friend. The only problem was that sometimes my kids would interrupt me(could you believe!)and say:
“Mom, did you see me on the slide?”
“Mom, did you see me on the monkey bar?”
And I would say, “Yes, I did, I saw.”
(I wasn’t really lying because I did look up everyone once in a while to check on them. I am sure one or two of those times they were on the swings or monkey bars…)
And then they would say:
“No! you weren’t watching, I waved and you weren’t looking!”
At that point I would realize that I just had to come clean and I would say:
“I was watching at the beginning but then I must’ve looked away.”
“I was talking to my friend and I got distracted.”
Being truthful with our kids is important. I then would try to make amends. I would say:
“I am sorry. Try it again. This time I will watch with full concentration.”
Kids appreciate our honesty and love when we say we are sorry. When we try to make amends we are teaching a great lesson to our kids showing them a live example on how to right our wrongs.
Now I have to go. I need to finish up that book I was reading…