The Wrong Thing To Say
0 comment Thursday, May 1, 2014 |
The kids have been off for two and a half weeks for the Easter hols, and they're only back in school for two days this week before they're off again for four more days! Therefore, it would have been appreciated to have had a few hours to kick around for myself today.
Not to be.
School is doing a Red, White and Blue dress down day tomorrow in honour of some stupid royal wedding or something. I only realised this morning when I properly read the school letter from the end of last time. That'll teach me not to pay attention.
And so I found myself picking through both kids' washing baskets and got everything that was red, white or blue to give them a good choice of what to wear. Whilst they were washing, I duly toddled off to Tesco to buy up some Union Jack stuff I'd seen there earlier in the week. This is after already enduring one other supermarket, Morrisons, taking my mother that morning.
So, not much down time. Only had about an hour which I inevitably spent dossing on the laptop. Made me a bit grouchy that I'd had to spend my first day off in over two weeks doing stuff for other people.
What would be the wrong thing to say to me therefore, when I picked the children up from school? Well, that would be daughter telling me that the rules were you could only wear red OR white OR blue - as opposed to red, white AND blue - and that she was going to wear her blue dress. The expensive dress from Next for special occasions that I hadn't washed because there is no way she is wearing that at school.
I then said the wrong thing. I should have said, 'OK, we'll talk about that later.' Because after school is never a good time to address any issue. What I said instead was, 'No you're bloody well not wearing that dress to school! I've done a whole pile of washing today and you can pick something from that!'
KABOOOOOM!
My children never take being told 'no' well, but being told 'no' when they've just come out of school, well, you'd better be in combat gear.
Then, when we got home, my son said the wrong thing. What he should have said was nothing at all, because things were clearly not great with daughter kicking off. Instead what he said was that he needed packets of cakes or crisps tomorrow for his class at they are having a picnic.
A freaking picnic! I hadn't got any freaking cakes or crisps! And I'd done two supermarkets trips that day!
In which case, what I should have said was, 'OK sweetie! We have a cookie kit that we can bake together tonight if you like?'
What I did instead was KABOOOOOM!!!
I gave my children their after-school snack and a drink and told them to leave me alone. I prepared tea and then went and had a shower to de-stress myself. When I came downstairs freshly washed and in my pjs, husband was back from work. I told him I wasn't in a great mood.
Now, what he should have said was, 'I'm sorry to hear that. Why don't you go and have the rest of the day to yourself whilst I wait on you hand and foot, deal with any stuff that needs doing, and keep the children away from you.'
Unfortunately, what he actually said was, 'Is it anything I've done?'
D-OH! Of course! Stupid me! There's nothing in the world that happens That's not all about him!
KABOOOOOM!!!
I don't want to say or hear the wrong thing any more tonight. I need time out. I am therefore going to leave husband some instructions and retreat to my bedroom. It's the kindest thing. For everybody.
addendumI leave the Union Jack stuff - that I made that special trip to Tesco to buy - on the table for the kids to find in the morning as a treat. My daughter says to me 'Mummy, that stuff on the table, do we have to wear it?'. Guess whether that was the right thing to say or not!

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