Yesterday, as I was cleaning the kitchen, I turned on the garbage disposal. I had very little in the sink but it only made a humming noise. I flipped the button a few times in case by some randomness, I suddenly didn’t know how to use the switch properly and had done it wrong the first time. No such luck. I stood there perplexed for a few minutes and then began the interrogation.
“Does anyone know WHY my garbage disposal may not be working?”
My 6 year old piped right up. “I might have put some rocks in there.”
We called Mr. Fix-it (aka Daddy), and sure enough, there were a FEW rocks (see picture!). He really wanted to punish her but I did remind him that we had never actually told either of the girls not to put anything in the garbage disposal so technically, it wasn’t a punishable offense. She freely admitted it and when questioned, it sounded like she wanted to see what would happen and until the garbage disposal stopped, she didn’t really think it was wrong. Spared.
That started me thinking. What other things have happened in our home (or others) that are caused by curiosity…and the fact that we would never have thought to tell the kids NOT to do them!
Here are the top 10 things I SHOULD have told my girls, but DIDN”T until it was too late (in addition the rocks):
10) Animals or children do not look cuter covered in markers or paint.
9) Don’t put anything in the toilet, the stereo speaker, the toaster, the microwave, the DVD player….or…or…or…
8) Eating an entire tube of toothpaste doesn’t give you the nutritional value of real food.
7) Scraping the sides of a vehicle with metal objects will give your father great angst.
6) If you hide food or dirty diapers, the smell will eventually give you away.
5) Carving your name in the wood dining room table is not the proper way to practice learning how to spell.
4) Age 4 is too early to take the keys off the hook and start the car for mommy.
3) Even if you are upset that someone is teasing you, you may not pee in a cup and tell them it is apple cider. (Yes, the phone call I received from the hysterical baby-sitter/mother was not one of my proudest mom moments)
2) Putting Goldfish Crackers in the fish tank will make you a Fish Killer, like on Nemo.
1) If you wake up in the middle of the night, you may not go outside and play (Thankfully, we had a door alarm!).
This video is a great reminder…
Let Them Be Little, Billy Dean
In the comments below, tell us some fun things your kids have done!
Blessings,
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