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Nice Day For Something

Toddlers are quick to assume the worst. The slightest little thing doesn't go their way and their entire reality goes down the pipes. All a parent can do in this situation is to maintain some dialogue, keep the choices flowing, and above all, stay cheerful. No point in validating a child's creeping suspicion that humans are greedy and cruel, that the universe is careening toward inevitable destruction, and that the ice cream from last night is all gone.

Emma hit the ceiling the other morning because a certain sippy cup was missing in action. My failure to drop everything and conduct a door-to-door search of the neighborhood did not go unnoticed. My subsequent attempts to downplay the importance of one sippy cup over another were very unpopular. I could feel my own anger level spiking; always a bad sign. A change of venue was in order.

We were due to get out of the house anyway, so how about a walk down to the drugstore for a new sippy cup? The idea went over pretty well with Emma, who seemed appeased now that a satisfactory effort was now being made.

We pressed the new sippy cup into service a couple of hours later as we packed a lunch and prepared to meet our regular Tuesday play group at the park. Emma was still a little bit touchy, so I didn't try to talk her out of bringing her new toy helicopter.

Perhaps I should have. Every kid in the park wanted to play with it, which precipitated the second emotional meltdown of the day.

I delivered a halfhearted lecture on the nature of personal property, assuring her that the toy would always be "hers," and that although other kids might use it, it would still belong to Emma, and that we would take it home with us when we left, and it would always be Emma's toy, no matter what.

Taking the high road was all well and good, except in my haste to get us out of the park and home in time for a nap, I left the helicopter toy behind. Oh boy, I thought, this is going to look bad. She'll never take my word on anything after this.

I spent most of Emma's nap time pacing the floor and cursing my bad luck, and it was during this time that I realized my wallet was missing. This day was not going according to plan. I needed help.

I got it. One of the mommies from our play group dropped off the helicopter on her way home. She knew Emma would miss it.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. It was the cashier from the drug store, the one who had sold me the sippy cup, on here way somewhere with her kids, stopping by to return my wallet.

Suddenly, things didn't seem so hopeless. I'd been having a rotten day, but it turned out to be nothing a couple of moms couldn't handle. And Emma woke up in a pretty darn good mood.

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© Todd Pinsky 1998-2002. All rights reserved.