No. 142: This is What Happens When Your 8 Year Old Reprimands You

and she's right.

Last month, O and I went to see a movie we’d been looking forward to for months. I was a bit wary about whether or not we should see the film until the last minute, but after seeing the reviews from people I trust and respect in every area, I decided we’d go for it.

Within about 40 minutes of being in the theater, we left.

The next morning, Keogena came downstairs rubbing sleep out of her eyes to join me on the couch with Enakhe. With her smiliest eyes she asked, “How was your date, Mommy?” I thought carefully about my answer, suddenly feeling like a teenager reporting back to a parent about poor choices the evening before.

“Well honey, we actually ended up leaving the theater shortly after we got there! Isn’t that crazy?”

Her eyebrows twisted into a question as she dug for further explanation and finally asked me the name of the movie. When I told her the answer, the shock on her face made me want to crawl into a hole. “MOMMY! Well of COURSE you needed to leave, why would you go see that movie in the first place?” I started to respond with a carefully worded answer, “I had seen other people that I respect…”

She cut me off with a quiet but firm statement that hasn’t left my brain since.

“But Mommy, you’re not ‘other people’. You know that.”