multi-tasking mistakes

I’m bad to talk to my kids without paying enough attention to what they are saying and what is going on.  In fact, I do that a lot with Someone as well.  He’s used to it.  Sometimes I don’t even pay much attention to what I’m saying.  It’s probably a consequence of multi-tasking all the time.   

 

Once when Sarah was young, I quickly made a bologna sandwich for her, put it on the table, and told her to eat it while I finished getting ready to go out (we were going somewhere together).  I rushed off into my room and was trying to curl my hair with a curling iron while putting on makeup while listening to the news on TV. 

Sarah came into the doorway and asked, “Mommy, do I have to eat my whole sandwich?”  Yes, eat it all.”  I replied.  She stood there for a moment and asked, “Do I even have to eat the blue parts?”  “Yes Sarah, eat your sandwich so you won’t get hungry later on.” I told her. 

Well, a few minutes went by and the conversation rolled through my head again.  Blue parts?  What was she talking about?  I walked into the dining room and there she sat with her sandwich all pulled apart, looking very unhappy.  The bread had fuzzy blue mold growing all over it, and I hadn’t even noticed.  I definitely won the bad mother award that day!  I apologized and told her we would just drive through somewhere and get her something better.  That put a smile on her face.

This evening, the girls and I went to the grocery store.  They were putting groceries away while I was standing under the kitchen light trying to read tiny-printed, rather complicated instructions on a bottle.  Erin was trying to make room in the fridge for the milk, pulled a plastic pitcher out and said, “OH GROSS!!  Look at this nasty kool-Aid!”  I glanced up and saw what she was holding and said, “Oh, that’s not Kool-Aid, that’s from the turkey.”  She puzzled and said, “What do you mean?  This doesn’t look anything like turkey.  And what’s all this stuff that’s sunk to the bottom of the jug?”  Back into my reading, I said “It’s the broth and turkey droppings.”  With that, Emily moved over to get a closer look.  I then realized my blunder.  I looked up and saw their horrified faces as they were holding the plastic pitcher up to the light to get a better look at the stuff in the bottom – it made me laugh when I told them I meant to say turkey drippings, not droppings.