Permanent Marker

I always find it humorous that there are parents in this world that are petrified of how society will view them if they don't have "perfect" children. These type of people have the outward appearance of everything being in place. Nothing is out of order. They, as well as their kids, are proper and perfectly clean. Yeah I know, it's the ideal way to be... right? I have a hard time molding to the expectations that most people clutch onto in a way that, to me, is not necessary. Don't get me wrong, some of the first things that i taught my children were manners, but in all seriousness we are not perfect, and we should not intend to push that on our kids. They are only human. They will make their own mistakes. It is simply our responsibilty to TRY and point them in correct direction, and let go. Life is like riding a bike. You start off with training wheels, you crash, get back up, and keep trying. Eventually you get the hang of it and the training wheels come off, your parents let go and watch as their child rides off full of independence. Sometimes you fall, but you still get back up, brush yourself off, maybe get a band aid ( or a cast if it was bad), get back on, and start over. (Yeah, there is a point to this and i am getting there, and it's actually kind of funny.) So, today i met one of these parents. The type that i describe as being prim ,proper, and perfect. I have this gut feeling that after she, and her child, witnessed a normal day for me and my 5 year old twins, will be talking about it to her friends and using us as an example how NOT to raise your children. This is what happened:

The heating element has gone out in my dryer creating this fiasco of washing laundry at home, loading it into at least 6 different baskets, hauling them to the laundry mat, and then spending endless hours waiting on the dryers there. Of course, as most of you know, I almost always have Kaden and Kaleb with me, as i did today. I know all to well that the attention span of two five year old children together is about 30 seconds on a good day. So, i had the boys grab some cars to play with thinking they would be o.k. while we waited. ( HA HA HA HA!!!) We get the laundry mat, get the clothes into the dryer, the boys started playing at the table with the toys they brought, and in walks this woman. This said woman deserves an explanation of outward appearance; she is wearing stiletto knee high boots ( it's Minnesota, it's icey, and there is snow butt deep to a girraffe ...hmmmm), skin tight jeans, a wrap sweater, chandelier earings, bug eye sun glasses ( which hid the pounds of makeup on her eyes), an updo of curly hair ( not one out of place mind you), dragging a big black plastic bag behind her with a paisley pattern comforter hanging out the top, and mindfully tagging along was a little boy ( whom i will assume is her child by the way she spoke to him). Now, said little boy deserves the outward appearance description:
He is cute as all get out. He has a pair of, what look to be, Timberland boots on with a pair of Sean John jeans, and a Rockawear jacket thats zipped up. He looked like he was around the age of the twins, however dressed like a teen ager with a very clean and neat high and tight hair cut.
Immediatley Kaden and Kaleb had caught a glimpse of this little boy and wanted to play. I really didn't see anything wrong with it. Not so patiently they waited to see if the little boy was going to come back around the corner and sit at the tables. After about five minutes they lost interest, went back to playing and i had to start folding laundry. I heard a phone ring and the "Stiletto Lady" started talking. I continued folding and turned to check on the boys after a few minutes. WHAT THE F***???? I wanted to yell "STOOOOOOOPPPPPPP!!!!" But i busted out with a laugh so loud that i startled "Stiletto Lady" and she stood up and glared at me, since i apparently interupted her phone call. She then looked over to see what i was rolling over and she gasped so loud she actually shrieked! Then she shot me a look like i was satan's spawn and hung up on whoever it was she was talking to. I have never seen anyone, not even the best of drag queens, run as fast as she did in those back breakers she was wearing. One of the boys, my two or her son, found the remnants of a permanent marker. Kaleb was laughing at Kaden, who had his back to me, and then pointed at this little boy and laughed even harder. Kaden had gotten some of this permanent marker on his fingers and thought it was a good idea to "spit wash" himself so he stuck his fingers in his mouth. This action promptly turned his lips, tongue, teeth, saliva, and chin licorice black. The other little boy was trying to help Kaden and placed the broken end of the marker into his mouth and started digging in his pockets. "Stiletto Lady" reached her son and ripped the marker from his mouth and asked my boys, " What did you do?", in a very stern manner. Before i could say anything Kaleb piped up," What? He put it in his own mouth!" Of course i start walking over, still hurling with laughter, to help as much as i could. Her little boy starts wiping his mouth, then reaching back into his pockets. As you can imagine: Slobbery hands that were wiping a mouth full of black PERMANENT marker then being wiped across expensive name brand clothes... not a PERFECT mothers idea of PERFECT! She shoots me this look that must have been heriditary, there is no way someones face could be trained to twist like hers did, and started snipping at me," YOUR BOYS ARE OUT OF CONTROL!! HOW COULD YOU LET THEM DO THIS??" Still laughing my butt off, i looked at her and said," You know, boys will be boys." Then she looked at Kaden and Kaleb, turned back and looked me up and down. Then out of her mouth spews," Well you obviuosly don't care..." Yeah you guessed it. I cut her off. I put myself between her and my boys, looked her in the eye and told her," Excuse me? If i didn't care i would be reacting like you. My boys are children. They play and sometimes do stuff they aren't supposed to, but i laugh most of it off. If you cared more you wouldn't be upset with your kid either", i pointed at her son. She turned to look at him. All the while that he had the pen shoved into his mouth, oozing black drool and ruining his clothes, he was digging for a piece of tissue to help Kaden get the marker off his hands. I think she was a little embarrassed. She would not look back at me. She grabbed her son by the back of the jacket and led him away to the rest room. As she was closing the door i heard her start repremanding him for ruining his clothes. As for me, i had Kaden rinse his mouth out, however he proudly wore the temporary stain of permanent marker as a reminder of his adventure at the laundry mat, and went about my day. Even Richie laughed when he heard the story and saw Kadens face.

So, my point to this: try not to teach so many lessons to your kids, but accept lessons from them as well. Remember to have fun, but help when its needed. Don't worry about your outward appearance so much because even the most beautiful people can be ugly and as black as a PERMANENT MARKER on the inside!