As much as I think the kids are not paying attention to me, it has come to my attention that they are defiantly watching me and making mental notes on my sneaky behavior. Over the years they have kept track of the things I do to get their attention and, or try to get by them. When I feel they are not listening to me I do things like hide things, make them disappear. In the beginning they found something had come up missing they would ask for it. I always, outright lied and said “I did not know”. Now I am too focused on hiding things so they will learn to take care of said things or just plain let them know what life is like without these little things, in hopes that they will learn something from all of this. Now I am not paying attention to them because they are one step ahead of me they have found said items and are in full control of the situation at hand. I think I am teaching them lesson and in fact I am learning it is me that has to learn they are much smarter than I am giving them credit for. They now find and get the things I hide and I forget about them and they have full use of them. When I started to smarten up was a few weeks back when I hid the ramen noodles. Now I know you’re asking yourself if she’s nuts, hiding noodles. Well I find the noodle packaging all over and never in the garbage, 50% of the time it’s my bed where the dogs drag it off to tear it up and make a mess. 30% of the time I find it on the counter where it was just left and 20% of the time it is in the cupboard where the garbage is kept but somehow it never makes it in the garbage just the bottom of the cupboard. So I took the case of noodles that I just bought and hid them. By the time I find the packaging, it is at a time there is no one to yell at. So because I will forget to call them on this, I hid things then they have to ask and I then remember I have to yell at someone. I know my parenting skills will never win any prizes. Any way because I had just bought the case only a couple was missing from the box when it went hiding. A few days go by and no one has asked about the noodles and this is strange as the kids are addicted to them. Now I have a little flag waving at me but I dismiss it and go about life then a few nights later I am getting ready to turn in when I grab the blankets to straighten them out and give them a big shake and what should fly out, noodle packaging. It’s late and all have gone to bed so now I must get the case of noodles to see who found them the dogs or the kids. I went rummaging through the closet till I found the box to see it size has been lighten considerably. Yes this is kids so I move them to a different spot in the basement storage room on the top shelf feeling quite smart about my hiding spot. Now as I am crawling into bed I am imagining there surprise when they think they are sneaking the noodle and find them gone. I give a little smug giggle and turn the lights off. A few days go by and one of the girls says “Mom can we please have some noodles” Wow I finally get to call them out, for their lack of clean up and their belief that they pulled one over on me. About half way through my speech on, if you’re not going to clean up properly I will not buy any more noodles and then we won’t have a problem. When the youngest starts to laugh and says “ ya Ma I still know where you hid them”. “And how do you know where they are”? I know where you hide everything I find it. Holly Cow batman you can’t find Easter eggs how do you find the other stuff I hide? I just know where you hide stuff. Well my smugness has been replaced with the meeting of the minds. I will just have to get craftier than they are now.
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