Parents: It will all work out!

I couldn’t help but look past my wife to next table in the restaurant and the couple sitting with their two young kids. The couple barely said anything to each other. You could tell they were running on too many cups of coffee and fumes. And this was before one of the kids reached across the table to grab a Superman action figure, but reached too far, pushing over a large soda across the table onto the mother’s lap. 

Uh-oh. 

The mom scurried out of the booth to avoid getting soaked, but ended up with a large wet spot on her shirt and pants. The young boy started crying and the rest of the customers in the busy restaurant looked up at the commotion. The mom mouthed that she was sorry to everyone sitting by her and tried to console her son.

When we left, my wife stopped at the table, smiled and told the mother that it was okay, that she understood, that we had walked in her shoes before. For the first time, a smile came across the woman’s face. The job of a parent can be tough enough even on the simplest of days, sometimes even the most experienced parents need encouragement and to be reminded that everything will work out. 

The sky is not falling

Here’s another story. 

When our youngest son was in elementary school, his food of choice was chicken nuggets in all their different forms. Dino nuggets, yes. Chic-Fil-A nuggets, oh definitely yes. Anything that looked like a nugget. We couldn’t get him to eat anything else and heaven knows we tried. We tried a gamut of things, ranging from being very strict to plain old independence and letting him make his own meals, but chicken nuggets remained a staple. 

We worried about this health. We feared that he’d wither away to nothingness or put on excess calories. We worried that we were failing him. However, of all people, his pediatrician soothed our concerns. He said his height and weight numbers were in the acceptable ranges. He shared too that in all his years of being a doctor, even the pickiest of eaters had become an adult with adult food preferences. So, it was interesting hearing our son talk a few weeks ago talk about “the family meals” that his roommates and him make in their apartment. They’re all busy with college and work, and there are a few ramen noodle and microwave meals and late night pizzas in there, no question, but there were also plenty of healthy meals and even a few vegetables too. He’s healthy and thriving — all I could ever want.

Yes, parents need to know that everything will work out for the best. 

Oops, I’ll be right back

I was thinking about all these stories recently when I went grocery shopping. I was broken from my thoughts when the woman in front of me in line said she’d be back, she had forgotten something. 

She went frantically running down an aisle. After a minute or two passed, the cashier looked up worried that there was no one to pay for the groceries he was ringing up. I told him that the woman would be right back. Sure enough, she came running with four jars of baby food.

“I’m so sorry about that, but my daughter is starting to eat solids and I wouldn’t forgive myself if I had forgotten that.”

I needed to get going, I was on a time crunch, but I figured I had two choices: be a mean old curmudgeon or offer the woman grace and understanding and be the person I needed when I was in her same shoes. Goodness knows I needed all the help I could get.

“Oh, I’ve been there I told her. Give yourself a break parents. One day at a time. It will all work out.”

The US and Canada celebrate Mother’s Day on Sunday. Happy Mother’s Day to mothers everywhere and to all the mothers in our lives.

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(I couldn’t help but check out the WordPress AI generated images suggested for this post. They’re not exactly the imagery I was looking for, WordPress and AI have a ways to go in my opinion, but they’re too crazy to not include.)