Day 28- Who is Responsible?

I saw the stain on the second-row seat while leaving the supermarket. Our four-week old car had been bastardized. At first, I thought Patrick might be the guilty party. So I did what I always do with visually unidentifiable stains; I sniffed it. No urine. It was sweet. Which made the stain the kids' fault. The cloth seat had been the victim of spilled lemonade or Gatorade. So typical of anything I own. It gets ruined, trashed, or winds up in the same place my turkey baster is- the kids' bathroom.

I started unpacking the groceries while Scot helped unload the car. He walked into the kitchen carrying an empty sippy cup.

" I found this on the third-row seat. Maggie left her lemonade in the car, and when you collapsed the seat for the groceries, it spilled, " Scot said. "Didn't you notice that the seat didn't go down all the way?"

"NO, " I said. "The spill is in the second row, and it's old, and dry. "

"NO," Scot said. "There are spills in the second row AND the third row!" "One dry, one fresh."

Initially, Scot's fire seemed targeted at me. But I understood that type of anger. When you're dealing with four and seven year old potatoes, the blame has to be directed at someone who holds a somewhat responsible position in the household. And in this mini-disaster, it was me. I hadn't realized the seat hadn't collapsed completely, therefore crushing and bursting open the cup. I don't want the car to be a premature pigsty any more than he does. Crap just happens, and I can't prevent it all.

My favorite greeting card has a woman blaming her kids for her missing pickle fork. I can relate. When you have children, household items become dirty, broken, and missing.
As they grow, Scot and I are teaching the kids to appreciate what they have, and to take care of their possessions. But mistakes are made along the way. Hopefully, those mistakes will become less frequent and the girls will meld into mature, capable adults. Then someday they too can experience the wonderful frustration of being a "responsible" parent.