On a normal day, Aaron and I get off work, one of us will pick Kiera up from her grandparents’ house and we will all meet up at home. Once we get home, we will ask Kiera how her day went and so on.
Last Tuesday evening, I attended a yoga class so I didn’t get home until closer to Kiera’s bedtime. I knew Aaron had already talked to her about her day so I didn’t ask, besides she was too busy telling me about all the fun things her and Aaron had done when they got home.
I waited until the next morning on the drive to school to ask Kiera how her previous day went. Our conversation went like this.
“How was your day yesterday?” I asked glancing in the rear view mirror at Kiera.
“Good.” She responded, before adding on. “Well, the whole Pre-K class got in trouble.”
“The whole Pre-K class?” I asked. “What happened?”
Kiera took a deep breath and stared out her window at the passing scenery before answering me. “I tried to answer the questions.”
I glanced back at her again while trying to figure out the direction this conversation was headed. “O.K…” I paused and deliberated before asking, “What questions?”
Another deep sigh came from the back seat before the dramatic reply came, “Mommy. I just don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Instead of pressuring her, I decided to reassure her for two reasons. First, I knew that the “trouble” that the whole Pre-K class might have gotten into couldn’t possibly have been that bad since I did not get a call or text from her teacher the previous day. Second, we had reached the school entrance and I didn’t want to drop her off thinking that I was disappointed in her.
“Sweetie, Mommy and Daddy love you so very much. We want you to be a good girl. Sometimes, we mess up and we have to ask other people to forgive us. But, you just try to continue to be good.” Before I could launch into other reassurances, Kiera cut me off.
“I was trying to be my best behavior,” She stated, meeting my eyes in the rearview mirror for a minute before she turned to look out the window again. “but… I turned to the bad side.”
It took every bit of my willpower to not burst out laughing. I quickly brushed a few stray tears of laughter from my eyes before she noticed them. I stepped out of the car and opened her door. Taking a deep breath, I replied, “Well, try hard to stay on the good side, baby.”
Kiera climbed out of the car and held my hand as we began walking across the parking lot. “O.K., Mommy. I love you.”
I walked her into her classroom and hugged her good-bye. “I love you, too.” I turned and headed out of the classroom and managed to not toss over my shoulder “And may the force be with you.”
Just a quick reminder to everyone out there, go vote! Your vote does count! Have a great week, everyone!
