The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe, I Mean A Two-Story House

"I want you to give me a spanking."

"You want me to give you a spanking?"

"Yes, give me a spanking, not a big spanking, a little spanking."

(Lite swat)

"That was a good spanking. It was just a little spanking."

I stand and watch him climb the stairs in amazement.

Last night the almost three year old asked me to spank him. In my nineteen years of parenting I don't think I have encountered this particular request, not that I can remember these types of things after nursing six kids. This was like most of my experiences with Evan. He had crept out of bed, and this was his response to me telling him to get his little bottom back up the stairs.

Often in my parenting I have remembered the old woman who lived in a shoe. You know the woman. She is in the nursery rhyme that makes you shiver as a small child. I have thought frequently about this poor woman whom we read about in this terrifying childhood tale. I thought she was evil, impatient, unkind and every other judgmental thought I could muster up. Of course all these thoughts were formed in my head while I was still the perfect parent. You know, 19 1/2 years ago, before I had children.

Then one day my thoughts changed. It was horrifying at first to think such things. The thoughts that now run through my mind are probably not what one would expect. My thoughts are that of an exhausted mother who can't get her children to stay in bed because she made them take a nap to ward off insanity. I think to myself, "This would save so much time. If I just spanked them before I put them in bed then I wouldn't have to go back upstairs." I am sure you are in shock and have never thought such a thought.

Chuckle

Chuckle