Absolutely mortified
Have your kids ever said something, public or private, that is just absolutely mortifying? I’ve felt the occasional embarrassment when my little guy pops his head underneath the bathroom stall to have a little “chat” with the person one over. ”Did you make a big poopie or a little poopie?” Most of those I can laugh off, but sometimes, well, I’m too stunned to even be embarrassed.
The latest installment of this occurred when my older child and I were walking around HEB. I’m not exactly sure what prompted her to start talking at the top of her lungs because this is the child who barely speaks above a whisper with unfamiliar people in presence.
“How come some people buy their babies?” I assumed that she was talking about baby dolls. ”I guess they like them,” I responded rather absent-mindedly. I was more focused on getting out of the refrigerated section, but my kid didn’t let up.
“No! Did you have to buy me? Did anyone sell me for you to buy?”
“What? Why would you think that I bought you? People don’t buy babies. Who told you that?”
“You did!”
I remember stopping in the cereal aisle, totally floored that my daughter was telling me that we had a conversation about trafficking babies. What on earth was she talking about? I had to get to the bottom of this.
“I’m pretty sure that I never said to you that people buy babies.”
“Yes you did. You said that I came from your tummy, and some babies don’t come from their mommies’ bellies. Those babies go live in a hotel, and then the mommies go to the hotel to buy them.”
I don’t blush, but I sure could feel this heat creep up my neck. There were a couple of people looking at my daughter, clearly overhearing our conversation.
“Are you talking about adoption? That’s not how adoption works.” Try as I could to explain how adoption works, my daughter’s twisted picture of people buying and selling babies just would not let up, and then she said something that knocked the air out of me.
“I was talking with my friend, and she said that she was adopted. I asked her if she remembered the hotel where she lived before her mommy came to buy her, and…”
My daughter has a lot of friends who were adopted, and I was mortified. Which friend was she talking about? Did the friend tell her parent what my daughter said? I tell you, I’ve never had so many questions swirling in my head in such a short time. Why would my child ever think that people were purchased? I sucked in a breath.
“Which friend was this?” I asked her.
She said.
I made a mental note to tell my friend that her biological child has been telling friends that she is adopted, and my daughter may have been telling friends that her child was purchased. I’m still trying to straighten out how the adoption process works. My kid now at least believes me when I tell her that babies aren’t purchased, but I can’t convince her that babies who are adopted don’t first live in a plush hotel.
image credit: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot
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Am I the only one who finds this funny??
Too funny! Oh to be inside of our kid’s minds to see how they view the world!
I have a good one….My daughter was four yrs old and we were on vacation in Taos New Mexico. The Puebla Indians still live there in the village and sell some of their goods in each of the houses and bread in the outdoor ovens. Their houses are made out of a mixture of clay dirt and hay. So we were going from house to house looking at hand made jewlery, instruments and such…I am guessing she was getting tired. We walked into 1 of the houses that was filled with people looking at Jewelery and she shouted ” I WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS DIRTY HOUSES” It seemed like everyone stopped and looked at us and her voice was amplified 20 times louder than normal. I was so embarrassed all I could do was put my head down take her hand and walk out….I did not know what to do…LOL