Heading back to the hotel from Magic Kingdom, I sat with Isa passed out on my lap, next to a mommy and her 2 year old little girl who seemed delirious and exhausted. With the clock quickly approaching midnight, the reason was obvious. My nosy ears heard the little one ask her mom, “Fishies?” Obviously, asking for some goldfish. The mother, in a sweet kind voice, responded, “No, sweetie. We are out of food. You ate all the fishies.” Less than 20 seconds later, the little girl once again asks, “Fishies?”, with her voice getting a little whinier. The mommy once again responds in a sweet, patient voice. Again, now maybe 10 seconds later, “Fishies?” Mommy’s voice changed quickly. I chuckled in my head (did I just use the word chuckle?!) hearing the mommy respond the way I wanted to. “No, there are no fishies. Stop asking for fishies.” Within the next minute, “Fishies?” was asked at least 10 more times, the mother alternated her response from “nice mommy” to “firm mommy.” It was hysterical. Daddy would chime in every so often to get a quick response from “firm/annoyed/tired/leave me alone mommy!”
Why do I share this story? I wanted to remind myself and all you Smart Mamas, that we try our best. We’re not perfect. We’re human. We have a level a patience that has a breaking point. While we always try our hardest to answer calmly to our children, we can’t always.
The little “fishies” girl, fell asleep in her mommy’s arms after a few minutes, and I caught her “calm mommy” close her lids as well.
