Not my Finest Mommy Moment

Last night was not one of my finest "mommy moments." I put the dishes in the dishwasher pretty late, and I was waiting for it to finish so I could make dinner. I know I could wash the dishes by hand and that would be a lot quicker, but I have a thing about washing by hand and feeling like it isn't clean enough. So, anyway, dishes are in the dishwasher and it is getting late. By the time I started dinner it was really late, and I know everyone was hungry.

The children filled the kitchen and every minute I heard, "Is dinner ready yet?" Between the constant questions, the little ones were tearing the kitchen apart. A stack of bowls was ripped from the counter and flew across the kitchen. Papers and other items were tossed from the tables. The box of rice that was going to go with dinner ended up in the trash, since something had leaked into the box from another package. "Is dinner ready yet?"

The children were hungry and frustrated, as was I. I muttered to myself, mad at myself for not getting dinner done earlier. They questions persisted, and I finally lost it. I yelled for them all to "get away from me" and "get out of the kitchen."

My daughter screamed and wailed as if being tortured, "Nooo, mommy. I will not leave. Where is my food? I am soo hungry! Is dinner ready yet?"

My husband finally decided to see what all the commotion was about. He demanded the children go to bed without dinner. When they protested he told them that your mommy said no dinner for you and they had to go to bed. (He misheard what I had said--I would never send my children to bed without dinner!)I yelled at him too, annoyed that he only half listened to me and tried to send the kids to bed without dinner. He had a tantrum of his own and left the kitchen to return to the TV.

I tried to finish dinner as the kids slowly reentered the kitchen.

"Is dinner ready yet?"

I did not say anything, I just tried to keep going, as quickly as possible.

"Is dinner ready yet?"

Finally, my daughter said, "I am leaving, it is too boring in here."

And then dinner was ready and everyone was gone.

I did apologize for my outburst later and for the yelling. I pray I do better today.