Monday, October 13, 2008

Note to Self: Things I will NEVER, under any circumstances, say to a mother of toddlers

Last week when I was flying home to Idaho from California with Maggie and Maximus, I met some friendly folks waiting for our plane at the gate.  I only had about three tasks to complete simultaneously: trying to feed us dinner before we boarded the plane, pulling Max out from under the black chairs where he had crawled to do some exploring in the airport nastiness, and chasing down Maggie as she cruised down the long row of chairs to try and partake of the dinner of some elderly strangers while I was doing the search and rescue for Max. 

When I finally took a deep breath and sat back down to wash everyone's hands and distribute the dinner, I saw a friendly looking lady smiling with Maggie. It's always a relief to find kid-friendly strangers around you in a public place– so often people seem to be annoyed that I have burdened the adult world with my younglings. So I smiled at the nice woman and enjoyed a rare quiet thirty seconds while the kids' mouths were stuffed with food.

Then another man sitting two or three seats down leaned over to the woman and said, while pointing at my kids, "Those were easy days, huh?"

I looked up at him, expecting to see some sign that he was utilizing the art of sarcasm. I found no such sign. He was completely serious.

The woman replied, "Yeah, I know. I didn't think it at the time, but those were easy days." Then she looked at me and said, "Just wait until they're teenagers. It makes this stage look like a breeze."

And that, my friends, is something I will NEVER, under any circumstances– even if I someday believe it, say to a mother of toddlers. Especially one who is wrangling two of them by herself in an airport.

5 comments:

christine said...

What were they thinking?!!! I have some of those classic crazy comments myself. We should really write all this stuff down...

Jonathan said...

Unbelievable. Do you think having teenagers might make parents lose their minds or become extremely forgetful??? Craziness.

Amy

Trish said...

Well, we've only got 2, (almost 3) teenagers, and so far, they are a blast! Enjoy the ride...it's not for wimps!

Mom Keena said...

Toddlers or teenagers! They are all wonderfully challenging! Can't say if I loved one better than the other! I just know raising children is not for the faint-hearted!

Brandy Roebuck said...

I have flown with Jackson and Susan many times alone and I survived it. It was never easy. Every time, I said I would never fly with them again :) The people that said that had kids when there weren't security check points. Try taking out a laptop, ziplock bag full of stuff, jackets for 3 people, and shoes for 3 people and keeping the kids right there beside you hoping they won't run off. I bet if they had all the things that we have to deal with now when their kids were young, that they might have a different story to tell. Hopefully when our kids are teenagers, they will have flown enough and will be delightful on a plane :) By then, mine will be flying solo back to Arkansas to visit!

One of our experiences: We make it through the first security with the ticket and driver's license verification at LAX and go up the escalators and then Jackson decides to get grumpy and upset while we are inline waiting to go through the actual security checkpoint. He runs away from me outside of the security area. I was lucky that the guard didnt' make us go back downstairs and start over again. I was so embarrassed. I had to bribe him to come back with me to the line. I can't imagine Jackson doing this as a teenager. Teenage years has to be easier. At least you can reason (to a point) with a teenager!