He ran in freaking out, “MOM!!! They broke it!! I found them playing with it and it doesn’t work anymore!! They ruined my splat ball!!!”
My 12 year old, Ty, was so upset that his splat ball (a toy he hadn’t seen or played with in over 2 years) wasn’t working because it was in the hands of his little sister and her friend.
He complained, “My sister is EVIL!! She destroyed my splat ball!”
I turned to him and said, “That’s not a splat ball…”
Ty grew more upset, “YES!! Mom! This IS a splat ball!”
“No. Don’t you think I know…? I bought it.”
To Ty I was a wacked-out, crazy lady, “Mom!!! Are you kidding me! This is a splat ball!”
“No, Ty, it’s not a splat ball”
“Mom, you know this!! You throw it on the ground and it stays and pops up!!”
“Ty,” I laughed, “I bought stress balls! That’s a stress ball.” I was confident and calm.
The next few minutes were of Ty doing all he could to prove to me I was wrong, even showing me the other splat ball I bought in comparison.
I stayed strong, “Ty! That is not a splat ball.”
Ty finally took the ‘ruined’ splat ball to the sink, cleaned it really, really well so the ‘sticky’ would come back. He stepped away from the sink, threw both balls to the floor and said, “Mom! SEE! Both splat balls work the same!”
I walked over slowly and looked at them where Ty had thrown them on the ground and said, ‘Wow….yes….and the splat ball you cleaned not only works….it works better!”
Ty looks at me, “So you agree it’s a splat ball?”
I smiled, “Yes, it is a splat ball, and the best part? It’s not broken anymore.”
Ty looked so confused I wanted to take a photo of him. Suddenly he started laughing as the magnitude of what just happened set in, “That was so mean!”
As a Mom of three, I don’t always react in the best ways to my kids, but on this one….I deserve a huge MEDAL!