I was showering, enjoying the quiet, the warm water, the freshness and just basking in the moment of peace when I heard the faint commotion outside the bathroom. Knowing my husband was there, I ignored it for surely he had it under control.

And then it came…*knock knock* “umm, hun, there’s a really big mess downstairs in the dining room” I said “oh that’s fine, we’ll clean up later” thinking it was the dinner a couple of them were still finishing when I left. He said, and I could sense the slight panic in his voice, “I’ll go start cleaning up but it’s not dinner and everyone is fine, thankfully.”

My control kicked in and I hurriedly raced out, half dried my skin, tossed on a robe and scurried down the stairs.

There on the floor shattered beyond recognition were a vase, teapot and several teacups which stood mostly as décor on the curio to the side of the dining room.

I knew that someone had to have tried to climb it in order for it to fall and I knew who it was because the culprit started to cry before any words were spoken.

What happened? I questioned “I was trying to get the black thing up there so I can open the bathroom door because I really wanted to tell you something”

The black thing was a wrench that came with our dining room set and is used to open the table and expand it if needs be and as is clear, the memes that suggest a parent is never really alone, even in the bathroom is true.

There were a hundred things I wanted to say but I said nothing. We cleaned the area up meanwhile the child responsible was still crying. My husband kept reminding me that if I got angry, I would regret it… and I am grateful for his reminder. I’m not much of a yeller and I don’t “scold/punish” my kids often, granted they honestly don’t give me much of a reason to… I’m a talker and I love talking to my kids.

Anyway, the time for our evening prayer was here and we prayed together and suddenly the way I felt over losing those items, which held some sentimental value to me was lifted. Sentimental because my mother bought me those items when I began planning my wedding and they stood as a reminder to me of the early beginnings of this chapter of my life.

So what did we talk about:
– Unless someone is very hurt, do not, under any other condition try to go into the bathroom if an adult is in there.
– Respecting others people’s property is very important.

– Climbing is dangerous and we explained to all of them how hurt they could have been had that unit fallen on them.

-Honesty is key; I thanked them for being honest and taking responsibility for their choices and whatever part they played.

-We encouraged them to look out for each other and discourage bad/harmful behavior from each other when they see it happening

-Material things can be replaced and most importantly;

The lesson we indirectly taught was kindness and the value of our words. As I put them to bed, the responsible child said “mom, I thought you guys would be mad so I got sad and I cried but you weren’t mad at me, you just talked to us.” It was followed up by them reiterating an earlier lesson learnt in class when their teacher told them to avoid being angry and when they find themselves in a state of anger they should say a prayer.

The evening prayer could not have come at a better time tonight!