The other day, as we were sitting around the table eating lunch, the topic of conversation turned to “Remember when…”
Does your family do that?
The older girls were laughing at the fun memories of having a fort, pretending to do CPR on a block of wood, finding glass bottles in the antique cars at our old place, being afraid of the neighbors’ dogs, etc.
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| The three oldest recreating a photograph from 10 years ago. |
Inevitably the stories turned to those where someone did something embarrassing. We hooted and howled as story after story was told. Of course we can laugh about it now. But then? Well, some of them we could, some of them we couldn’t.
I also realized my children provide much of my embarrassing episodes, usually through no fault of their own because of their age or, haha, sheer numbers.
I cannot count how many times I’ve been asked “Are they ALL yours?” or “Do you even have tv out there on the farm?” or “Did you even need a man to produce those girls? It’s like you took a cookie cutter and stamped them all out.” Most said in front of an audience so there is much laughter by others, leaving my younger children to ask, “What do they mean ‘do you need a man’ and ‘do you have a tv’?” I can’t say I have handled all those with grace. Okay, so maybe I might have be downright rude back. But only once or twice. 😀
The most embarrassing episode, though, involves Semisweet who happened to be 2 at the time. I was walking into the local grocery store with her in tow when we met an acquaintance who was coming out. His wife had just had a baby a few days before so we stopped to chat about how she was doing. As the conversation progressed I noticed Semisweet kept tugging at the gentleman’s pant leg. “Scuse, me. Scuse me!” Finally, when the conversation hit a lull, he looked down at her and asked, “Yes?” To which she pointed right at his belly and in a loud clear voice exclaimed, “You fat!”
Oh the horror! I’m sure if a Mexican can turn a shade of red that would have been a time it became evident.
I didn’t have any idea what to say. I tried to apologize but was flat out speechless. Her outburst was so unexpected and so, so . . . EMBARRASSING!
Thankfully, my friend was quicker on his feet than I was. He looked right back at Semisweet, smiled at her and answered, “Honey, you are right!” We bid farewell and I quickly headed into the store still mortified by my daughter’s comments. All turned out well. We met his parents in the lobby at church the following Sunday. They laughingly told us about D recounting the story for them. He held no hard feelings. At All. Whew!
So, please, tell me I am not the only one whose children say embarrassing things. Do you have any good stories to share?
p.s. A good come back for the tv comment mentioned above is “Of course we do, but what’s more fun?” Gets them every time. ☺
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when my YW president was at my house getting ready for camp with me, she needed to use the bathroom. my then 3 1/2 son and 1 1/2 daughter follow her. through the crack, my son yells ‘sister johnson, are you pooping??’. at least it was at my house, right? when she came out, she said she hadn’t been asked that question for a while. 🙂
HA! Love your “come-back”.
Oh goodness, I am very sensitive so I have lots of embarrassing moments. The best I can think of right now happened a few weeks ago at the post office. The man working behind the counter had long hair and a beard. My 2 year old took one look and yelled “IT’S JESUS!!!” and kept talking to him and saying “HI JESUS!! JESUS IS AT THE POST OFFICE!!” Man, the whole place was in hysterical laughter. I was basically mortified. I was trying to keep it light, so I said to the guy as we were leaving, “see in you in Church on Sunday! wink wink” and the guy is like “No. No you won’t.” Eek!
Oh DEFINITELY have those moments. Tonight my son informed me that “Mom, you’re kinda fat.” (I’m 7 months pregnant). Plus the stuff they say OUTSIDE the home is even better! Kids definitely are the best entertainment. My friends and I ALWAYS ask what we did before kids!
my four year old has just started this! she has never said rude things to anyone before. We recently have a had a very TALL and very LARGE man join the church here. Everytime she sees him she says YOUR FAT!! Oh help me!! I’ve told her shes got to stop it and what his name is.
I so understand your need for come backs. We are often asked things such as, “four kids? well you Catholics can’t get the rhythm can you?” Lovely! Since when did only 4 kids become a lot??? As for embarrassing, well here’s a good one. My younger son was about 3 or 4 and was sharing his room with my visiting parents. He accidentally walked into the room while my father was dressing and proceeded to announce, “Papa, those underwear are HUGE!” Luckily, my dad has an awesome sense of humor and just laughed himself silly. He’s repeated the story many times!
fond memories…not embarrassing any more
My boys are always providing me with laughs after the fact. I really think that is their job! 🙂
When my oldest was about 5 he was noticing that there were different sized people all around. We had a very short man that worked at a grocery we shopped at. One day he LOUDLY (why can’t it ever be quiet?!) told him he was short and his mommy was tall. He needed to stop drinking coffee. Whooo Baby! We have since then discussed it in detail how tall I am (6 feet) and how short many others can be…it is ALL normal. 🙂
I LOVE your comeback to the TV question! Nosy people who feel they should comment really bug me and totally deserve the comback! 🙂
That IS a good comeback. 🙂
I thought my 3-year-old daughter had seen plenty of African Americans, but evidently not that she could remember. One day at a restaurant she pointed at a very-dark complexioned man and shouted, “Mom, he is BLACK!” and proceeded to laugh her head off. The man did not look nearly as amused.
I used to look after a 4 year old that had not been much exposed to different sorts of people, and twice she exclaimed loudly in the supermarket. On seeing an admittedly very hairy chested and very black African man – oh look, a gorilla! And another time, seeing a muslim woman completely veiled in white, that she had seen a ghost! Talk about going red and wanting to vanish! We had a trip to the library multicultural picture book section afterwards.
I’ve had my kids say embarrassing stuff and others say things to me. You can’t take it personal as it is normally true, kids just don’t have any filters yet. When my kids do it, I try to redirect quickly and talk to them later about how they made that person feel.
One of the most mortifying was when I had to take my son with me into the public restroom and he kept announcing out loud over and over again, “Mom, your bum is REALLY big.” The more I tried to get him to be quiet, the more he repeated it. I seriously wanted to disappear.
my son was just learning about body parts and the differences between boys and girls. we were at the grocery store and this man was in front of us..my son proceeded to ask him if he had a (male part) or a (female part). luckily the man had 3 grown children and laughed and laughed. the worst part was my son would NOT STOP asking the question because the man wouldn’t answer so MANY people in the store heard him. Oh the embarrasment…i am still turning red from it.
I just remember as a missionary (in a foreign country) one Sunday in RS, the teacher was talking about dressing modestly. She said, “We can all look at Sister Atomic as an example. She always dresses in maternity wear, and that is very modest.” Great! That’s when I learned that jumpers were only worn by pregnant women in Bulgaria. My son is still too young to talk, but I’m sure he’ll come up with some wing-dingers eventually.
My husband and son, then 3 years old, were leaving the grocery store when a tattooed man walked om wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and flip flops. My son very loudly asked his daddy why the “ugly man was naked.” My husband was quite embarrassed…but the man just laughed.
Recently my almost-four year old son got it into his head that all people who smoke are bad. I can see where he’s confused, (smoking is bad for you, therefore people who smoke must be bad), and I’ve tried to explain to him that just because some people choose to smoke, which is a bad choice, doesn’t mean they themselves are necessarily bad. They may be very good people. But he doesn’t like this explanation, apparently, and insists on LOUDLY exclaiming whenever he spots a smoker “Look, Mom! A smokin’ person! They are bad!” And then it’s my turn to LOUDLY explain (so that the offended smoker can hear) his misconception. There’s something about boys, I think, that makes them want to shout all their embarrassing commentary. My daughter always whispers.
Fun post.
One time in Raleys, Pres. Lords with all six in tow replied to a rather rude comment about large families said “Yes, they’re all mine, some of us can have beautiful, intelligent children, and then there’s the rest of you”!