If you are a parent, it is bound to happen at some point. In public, your child does or says something that makes your eyes widen, and you immediately want to hide in embarrassment. For some, it may be walking past the wine aisle and your child announcing loudly, “Don’t you need some Mommy juice?” For me, one instance included a four-year-old and a four-letter word. To set the stage, you need to know that we had a wonderful but frustrating dog who loved to run out the door any chance she got. The dog aggravated my husband to no end, and when she would escape, he tended to use an expletive. Lo and behold, one afternoon, while standing on the front porch with my daughter and neighbor, the dog got out, and my precious little four-year-old in her big pink bow and smocked dress said, “Mom, there goes the ____ dog!” I was so embarrassed!
As I said, it happens to all of us, be it a child repeating words that should not be repeated or telling an embarrassing story at school. But what should we do when that happens? Sarah Lyons gives us some polite and strategic ideas in this month’s feature, Solutions to Sticky Situations. Naturally, these are not our proudest parenting moments, but one day, depending on the circumstance, you may be able to look back on them and laugh.
As our kids age, we don’t get to put sticky situations behind us. We will constantly have situations we need help navigating. We set rules and boundaries to clarify our expectations and protect our children, but there will always be some circumstances that we may not have covered, or maybe we just got a little lax over time. Screen time and video game time are issues that can definitely slip up on us. We allow an extra 20 minutes on a special occasion that turns into two special occasions, and before you know it, your child is spending way more time on gaming/screens than you intended. Again, it happens to all of us, especially if you are monitoring multiple children. Writer Cheryl Maguire is sharing some tools we can use to help our children spend less time on screens and explore other interests in her feature Parenting the Video Game Fanatic: How To Encourage Other Interests.
With summer right around the corner, summer camps are the perfect way to help children find and explore new interests. Our expanded Summer Camp Guide in this month’s issue offers a huge list of options. We have taken the March guide and added even more camp opportunities. Whether you are looking for day camps, sleep-away camps, sports camps, or art camps, you will surely find opportunities for your kiddos to enjoy this summer.
Also, with the beautiful spring weather, we see more community activities. Check out the Family Calendar in this issue to find plenty of outings for you and your family to enjoy! Looking forward to the May issue, we will have our annual Vacation Bible School Guide. If your church is hosting a VBS, please email us and let us know. We would love to share it with the community.
We are rolling into a season filled with sunny, warm days and full calendars, so enjoy this April and fill it with lots of family time and laughter.
Author: Lynn Knighton
Lynn has called the Mobile Bay area home since 2006 with her husband Brad and their 3 daughters. Following the sale of her Abrakadoodle franchise, Lynn still wanted to serve families and help them thrive. Becoming the Publisher of Mobile Bay Parents was the perfect opportunity. Now she invests into family's lives each month by providing the with the area's #1 go-to resource for moms and dads.
