How NOT to be a Good Parent 003

Well, after a couple of weeks, fretting about screwing up something that I'd wind up posting on here, I found something the other day that I'd done without ever even trying. It's amazing how you can watch your step every day, trying to be a GOOD parent, and somewhere along the way, you just veer off the path whether you mean to or not.

So, here it is: this week's way to NOT be a good parent.

When you speak, do not enunciate your words. That way, your daughter will think that empty bed room down the hall is, in fact, a ghost room. Not, well, a guest room. 


So the other night Michelle had to go into work in the evening and I found myself alone with my girls. Balancing an adorable toddler on my hip, trying not to drop her in the sink, cleaning up from dinner while Olivia jimmer-jabbered about anything and everything, my phone rings, still in the pocket of my pants in the back bedroom. (I was wearing gym shorts, by the way.)

Heading back into the house, Olivia exclaims,

"Are you crazy? Don't go back there alone!"

"I'm not alone. Erilyn's on my hip, and you're right beside me."

"Of course, I'm not staying in the kitchen by myself. But do NOT go into the ghost room."

"The what?"

"The ghost room! Just let it go to voicemail and check it when Mama gets home. Don't leave us alone!"

The conversation went on like that for some time, me trying to figure out why she thought the room was haunted, her trying to convince me it was. But it wasn't until I was retelling the story to Michelle that we realized the similarity between guest and ghost. I supposed I shouldn't have misspoke.

However, the next day, when Michelle asked Olivia what the room across the hall from hers was called, Olivia said,

"The bedroom where Daddy keeps his clothes? Oh, the guest room."

The ghost room was never mentioned again.

So...maybe there is something weird about it after all? Either way, misguiding my children into fearing the room across the hallway is definitely how NOT to be a good parent.