Do you ever manipulate the truth with your kids?
Or fib a little?
Or reword things?
Or sometimes just flat out lie?
No? Just me?
Well, I have no shame in my stretching-the-truth-game. Because #survival. And because #mamaknowsbest.
Case in point —
My kids have always loved my homemade lasagna. Until they didn’t. And the time they decided they didn’t, I’d made a double batch so I could freeze one which basically meant we had about twenty pounds of lasagna in the house.
It was almost like when you’re at the bar with your girlfriends and one says, “I need to go to the bathroom!” Then all of sudden you do, too, and there’s a chain reaction and everyone goes (all together, of course).
My daughter was all, “Mama, I don’t like this lasagna anymore.” And Everette followed suit. “Me neither! Bleh!” And Brooks started making the “Bleh” noise and giggling and there was lasagna on the floor. I think maybe steam started coming out of my ears.
I had literally spent hours – hours in the kitchen and was all pat-myself-on-the-back-proud for making not one, but two homemade lasagnas. And now my trio was on a lasagna strike.
We pushed through the next couple dinnertimes. I basically force-fed them because no home-cooked meal shall ever be wasted in this house. And then I waited about four weeks before I busted out, de-thawed, and cooked lasagna #2.
Except for this time, I called it Pizza Casserole.
Kid #1: “Mommy, what’s for dinner tonight? It smells so good!”
Me, lying stretching the truth: “A new recipe! You’re going to LOVE it! It’s called Pizza Casserole!”
All Kids: “Mmmmm that sounds so good! I love pizza! Look at all that cheese! I can’t wait to try it!”
And lo and behold I plopped that lasagna on their plates and they gobbled it up and asked for seconds and kept complimenting the chef (thankyouverymuch) and Cameron Kate declared that it was now her MOST FAVORITEST DINNER EVER. “Like, even better than Poppyseed Chicken Casserole, Mama.”
So this whole lasagna-turned-pizza-casserole-thing got me thinking. Isn’t it crazy how a shift in our perspective can completely change things? Easier said than done, sure.
But I recently had a conversation with a friend about trying to look at everything that happens as an opportunity. Try using that word more in your vocabulary — especially with your kids. Change your have-to into get-to…
Rain ruined your pool plans? An opportunity to snuggle on the couch and watch a movie!
Stuck in traffic? More time to actually sit and be still (with kids who are contained!)
Burned the dinner? Now I get to order takeout from the restaurant I’ve been wanting to try!
Satellite went out? An opportunity to read that book I’ve been wanting to read!
Imagine how different it would be if we viewed unexpected happenings in our lives — both the big and the small — as opportunities for growth, opportunities to learn, opportunities to try something new. Opportunities to open ourselves up to something we’d never even considered before.
So mamas… let’s shift our perspectives — from lasagna to pizza casserole — from now-I-have-to to now-I-get-to — and let’s see if life tastes any different.
