Mom Fails

 Here's a little departure from my normal fare. I had a really bad morning as a mom the other day and wanted to let you know how I dealt with it. My son, through poor planning, waited until it was time to leave for school to look for a folder and some other stuff he needed and as he was rushing around searching he knocked the pepper shaker from my vintage Spode set off the table and broke it. This set was my first Mother's Day gift 24 years ago so it was precious to me. I got very upset and fussed a lot at my son and made him cry. Then later I felt bad and like I over-reacted. 

The reason I felt so bad about it is I had a similar experience as a child when I wore. my mother's silver charm bracelet to 50s Day at school. I took off my costume and put it in a grocery bag after the  contest specifically because I wanted to keep her bracelet safe. Unfortunately it fell out of the bag and my school bus ran over it. And she yelled at me a lot and I felt terrible. The worst part was there was no solution. To this day I still have that smashed charm bracelet but there's no way to fix it.

So, my solution was to give my son a solution. I feel like if a child hurts you there really needs to be a way for them to make it up to you because you can be sure they do feel bad about it and want to make it up but as children they are basically powerless. I got on eBay and found a new set. I ordered it and told my son he can do chores to pay me back.  That's my advice as a mom for a pretty long time now: give your children some power to right their wrongs and try to give them grace. We all make mistakes. Give yourself some grace as well, because none of us are perfect.

Some other lessons: if you're missing something, no matter how old it is, look on eBay. Someone is probably selling it! As always I am an eBay affiliate so I may make a small commission when you click on one of my eBay links. Also, check out my friend Amy's Instagram page. She specializes in ceramic repair and does an incredible job. I've seen her repair other materials too. If I had not been able to find a new pepper shaker I would have sent mine to her.