"I was just trying to help!"

Is it possible to love your child and be sooooo incredibly mad at them at the same time? Yes, I'd have to say it is possible....and it's even possible to try and stay calm, when you really just want to explode with anger. I got a little test the other day, when Caile decided she was going to "help" with laundry.


There were some random things on the laundry room floor. A few whites, a sheet, a couple darks, some pinks and reds, and some bright red place mats that I purposely hadn't washed yet. Though Caile has helped me separate the clothes before, she's never run the washing machine. I've never even shown her how to run our new one. I prefer to do the laundry....because of all the mistakes that can be made. My husband does a load or two now and then, but he couldn't even tell you what needs to be washed in cold or what should never go in the dryer. I just do it myself....and if they run out of socks, they just have to wait until I get around to doing laundry.


Anyway, on this wonderful day, Caile took it upon herself to start a load of laundry. Since the laundry room is right next door to her room, I didn't even notice. It wasn't until a friend of Caile's informed me that I had pink socks, that I realized someone had done a load. My first question was, "who did laundry?" Honestly I was about to blame my husband. I never thought in a million years that one of the kids started a load. Then Caile confessed. I asked what she washed with the socks that was red. She answered the typical "I don't know." I asked her to pull everything out of the washer and put it in a basket. Before I got up the stairs to see what was in the basket, she showed me the red place mats that had been washed with the whites...and every other thing that was in the laundry room. As you can imagine I probably looked like I was about to explode. I immediately asked what temperature she washed the clothes at....and of course she didn't know. The place mats are suppose to be washed separately in cold water...thankfully they hadn't made their way to the drier. As I was trying to figure out what to do with all of the ruined clothes, Caile said, "I'm sorry, I was just trying to help." How can you be mad after that? It's amazing what an apology can do. I let her go out and play, separated the whites, that were now pink and threw them back in the washer. I guess I was hoping that after a wash with bleach, there might be an improvement. Of course after 3 washes and no real change, I gave up. I got the clothes loaded and pulled out the drawer for the detergent. I'm sure steam was coming out of my ears when I realized she had put detergent in the fabric softener spot. The detergent was caked in and wet. I spent about 30 minutes scraping it out with a spoon, then eventually pulling the whole thing apart and cleaning it out. I mentioned this part to Caile later when I had calmed down a bit. All in all, Caile learned her lesson, and I learned that I can be more understanding and forgiving than I imagined. The boys are going to need some new socks and underwear....because they refuse to wear the pink ones. I'm sure we'll laugh about it later!



Just a sample of our beautiful pink whites....


The culprit red placemats....they survived the ordeal