Let me smell your breath

When my kids were younger, I would say 8 and 5, the morning was always a rush.

Rob left for work at 5:30 am so I was on my own with them to get ready for school in the morning.

It was our routine to get up, me have a shower (they would have had a bath the night before), get dressed, have breakfast, pack up the back packs then off the day care and school.

Luckily their daycare was attached to their elementary school so it was one less stop I had to make in an already rushed morning. We did have a routine but it still felt rushed!

I made sure that they sat down and had breakfast every morning. Toast. Cereal. Fruit. Something to give them a good start today (even though I knew they got a snack as soon as they got to daycare). I was not, and am still not, a big breakfast eater and I usually had to finish making lunches or dry my hair or back my own school bag so I did not always sit down to eat with them.

Sometimes, I would throw a quick yogurt in my bag to eat when I got to work. Or a granola bar to eat on the way to work. Or a piece of fruit for recess.

Well, one morning, there was a tray of brownies on the counter so I (thought I) snuck one of them as the kids were packing their bags.

My son (the 5 year old) came in and asked what I had eaten for breakfast. I told him that I was going to eat at work. He tilted his head and looked up at my quizzically. He accused me of eating a chocolate brownie … for breakfast. The nerve! Apparently, he was very disappointed in me! I assured him I hadn’t. At this point, lying felt like the lesser evil when compared with, basically, admitting to your five year old that a chocolate brownie is a good option for breakfast.

I thought he had accepted my “version of the truth” until I knelt down to help him do up his jacket. We found ourselves face to face. He looked me in the eye and said…

LET ME SMELL YOUR BREATH. I THINK YOU ATE A BROWNIE FOR BREAKFAST.

Lesson learned? If you are gonna eat chocolate for breakfast, do it when the kids are not there or pack it to eat after you drop them off!