Efforts in Parenting

Last night I took my children to our community jacuzzi. This of course because Greg was gone and those last few hours of the day when tempted alone can be somewhat daunting when your children are under the age of five. I've often pondered whether or not it would be easier to just run a 10k rather than go through the rigors of bedtime with small children. I would at least get the benefits of cardio with the same amount of effort. At any rate, our jacuzzi time went rather smoothly with an occasional splashing of the other two people who were there as well, hoping we would leave soon of course. Knowing the five minute warning always helps my kids cope with the inevitable truth that their delight in their current circumstances is in fact not everlasting I gave the necessary "warning"....I think our toes would in fact shrivel off if that were the case of living in a jacuzzi. As I delivered the daunting news that our "5 minutes" was in fact up...and it was time to go, Amy obligingly got out and headed towards the shower. "That, was easy," I thought to myself as Amy is the hardest to persuade in such situations. Jamison however was the opposite. In fact he was worse than opposite. As a four year old, past tantrums are exactly that, past. Well, last night they once again became a thing of the present. Complete with tears, screaming and pleading, he made it clear to everyone at the park, pool and meeting room which was at the time occupied by about 40 men who looked to be having an important meeting complete with PowerPoint. This was immediately added to the list of times where I wish I had Harry Potter's magic invisible cloak. I could have averted about 60 pairs of eyeballs. The next ten minutes of showering, drying, and jamification (jammies) seemed endless. Jamison of course refused jamification because he probably thought that if he refused clothing I wouldn't dare make him walk naked out of the community center in front of all those people. I couldn't in exactly force him to put clothing on....mainly because I was afraid someone would come into the bathroom to make sure the wailing and gnashing was not because a mother was losing it on her child....when in truth it would just be a mother trying to put clothes on her naked cold and wet child. So I did what I thought was the right thing to do. Let him walk out naked. Well...naked and crying. The 400 yards to the car never seemed so far away but again....if only I had that magic cloak. I was impressed by my own ability to remain calm throughout the entire experience only to burst into tears that evening after saying my prayers. Had I done the right thing?

Well, this morning at 7am Jamison burst into my room with a big smile saying, "Good morning Mom!" followed by a big hug. How could I still be mad at the event which took place not even 12 hours previous? Well....I wasn't....kind of, but I still wish I had a magic cloak for our next visit to the jacuzzi.