So Much for Being a Cool Mom....

Phil and I take our job as parents very seriously.

We know that as parents, we are responsible for loving and nurturing our children, protecting them, teaching them what is right and good, and, when they are old enough, embarrassing them by our very existence.

At what age do kids start to find their parents embarrassing?

When I was a kid, we spent a lot of time at the public pool, and my dad (love you, Dad!) always went through this little exercise of hopping up and down on one foot and shaking his head up and down - "This is how you get the water out of your ears, kids!"

One day we're all hopping around with him, completely unconcerned with how we appear, and the next day mortification sets in. "Dad, you have to stop doing that in public!"

So the other night as I talking to Grace she said, "You know, Mommy, you have a weird bumpy thing on your nose."

"Oh, that's a little mole."

"Well, it's not normal to have something like that," she informed me.

"Really?"

"Well," her tone became more diplomatic. "I'm just worried that maybe one of my friends will say something to you and then you'll feel bad."

"I see."

"Do you think you could tell the doctor to take it off?" she asked.

"I don't think that's necessary and besides it would most likely leave a scar," I told her.

"Oh." And then after some more thought: "Well, you could always try to push it in for an hour and see if stays in."

I'll get right on it, Sweetie.

And some other humorous comments she made this weekend:

To Phil: "You're just trying to get me to crack!"

And when I suggested that I might start charging the kids ten cents every time they come out of their rooms after bedtime, she accused me of this: "You're just trying to get rich off your kids!"

She's on to me. I figure that if each of them come out a couple of times each night, I can save up and get me a pack of Tic Tacs.

Except I can't leave the house.

I'll be too busy trying to push my mole in.