A slightly different twist
A complete story this time. Some who have heard it before, may see a different spin on it.
It was a warm sunny day in the early spring. A young mother was waiting for her daughter to get home from kindergarten. Her youngest was getting rambunctious and really needed her older sister to play with. It was a trying time for the mother, she spent most of her day alone with only children to talk to. If you’ve ever been the parent of young children, you can understand the yearning for adult conversation. Yes, motherhood could be trying, but to see the smiles in her children’s eyes made it all worthwhile.
Little Katie finally made it home from school with a big “Hi Mommy, I’m home.”
Hugs were given and received. Lunch was served and eaten. The two girls went off to play. Finally, the mother could get some things done. There was laundry to do of course, but she really wanted some time to sit with a project she had going. Who knows what the project was for the day. It could have been anything from finishing a dress for one of her children, or knitting a blanket for someone’s new baby. These were much easier to handle when the two girls were playing together. And with the older one gone part of the day, it seemed like they didn’t have as many fights.
It didn’t take too long before the girls wanted to go outside. It had been wet and rainy recently, and this was the first sunny day in a long time. Jenny came to ask her mother if she could go outside with her sister.
“As long as you don’t get your clothes dirty, you can go out to play.” , was her mother’s reply. And she returned to her project.
It didn’t take long before Katie came into the room and wanted to use the hose. Of course her her mother said, “No Katie, I don’t want you to touch the hose.”.
Slightly saddened, Katie went back outside to play.
A long time passed, the project was finished and it was quiet. Too quiet. From some premonition that some parents get, she knew that something wasn’t quite right. The mother went outside to see what was going on with her two darlings.
She found them. Oh yes, she found them kneeling in a puddle, covered with mud and the hose was running, slowly making the puddle bigger. They were playing, splashing and laughing. They didn’t see their mother come up to them.
With her temper rising, the mother first asked her youngest daughter, “Why are your clothes dirty? I thought I told you not to get them dirty.”
Jenny’s response was “But these aren’t my clothes mommy, Katie said I could wear hers.”
Her mother looked and sure enough, the clothes were a bit too big.
“What about you young lady? I told you not to touch the hose.”
“But mommy,” piped in Jenny again, “Katie didn’t touch the hose. I’m a big girl now, I can turn on the hose myself.”
What was a mother to do? Her daughters followed her instructions exactly. Oh yes, the letter of the law was stretched, but the elastic didn’t break. What would she do?
Firmly she said “Stay here!” to her daughters. She went inside. Her daughters trembled with a little fear. Of course they knew their mother was mad. They had no idea of what was to come. They didn’t like thinking about it, but they didn’t want to make matters worse, so they stayed right where they were.
In a few minutes the young mother came out again. In her hands, she held a camera. Pictures of two very muddy girls were taken. Excess mud was rinsed off. Baths were taken. Snacks eaten. All was right with this little family. The rest of the day was as normal as any other.
May you find, as this family did, that it is usually best to keep your temper, and try to find something good in every situation.