Reset Buttons and Not Sucking

This was written on Saturday, but I didn't hit publish post until today because of the buckets of snot poring out of Moses' and my heads.

How much more awesome would life as a parent be if kids had reset buttons. If you could just erase certain things that were said to them. Ahhh....no more toddlers with potty mouths. No more preschoolers repeating embarrassing things. Today, I would have loved to have such a thing.

G is playing soccer. I know this isn't the super competitive league, but it is important to our little family. We have special game day pancakes, and fix his hair in a faux hawk. It's fun for us to get him pumped up and feel good about himself. G now is into our ritual, so every Saturday morning we get pumped for some beautifully chaotic, 4 year old soccer.

G also expects adults to tell the truth, because we don't lie to him. If we say, "Son, if you do that again, I will punish you," we back it up. If we say, "we are going to do X, on this day," we do X on that day. Because that is the way the world should be when you are 4. He doesn't yet know that adults suck a large part of the time. Today, he got a lesson on this. So he's a trusting and naive soul.

A family member told G at his first soccer game that he, the family member would be at every game. This man has missed the last two games. So we are stuck with explaining to G why this adult, who he loves, has stood him up. Let's see...what truth should we tell our child? That this person is selfish? That this person is a liar, and unworthy of his trust? How exactly do we tell our child this.

Last week a friend of mine from out of town missed G's game by about 30 minutes due to my new phone being a new phone. Meaning I had no contacts yet, and sometimes forget I have the ringer off. So she told G that she would be at his game this Saturday no matter what. Then came the week. Things happened, as things do, and she wasn't able to come to town. Which would have been fine and understandable had she called. But G was looking for her, and was disappointed that his "aunt" wasn't there as well.

Moral of the story is, don't promise to be there for a child and then bail. You kind of suck if you do. Just call ahead of time and at least let the kid know what is going on in general terms. Don't forget them, oversleep, or just not show. Don't teach our children to lie. Also, if you pour that big bowl of suckatude over a child's head, have the decency to apologize to them if their parents will let you. Be an adult.

Today did have a surprise joy saver. G's aunt and younger cousin came to the game unexpectedly. You could tell it just made his day, and he played so much more joyfully after they arrived. He even blocked a goal and then drove the ball all the way down to his goal. He wanted to show off for his baby cousin, who mutually adores G. So he didn't really care that some people didn't show for his big game. Guess that just shows me how I should feel too.