This archive report was first published on 12 November 2019.
As I sat on a long client call, my son's boredom led him to explore the shoe rack in my bedroom. He grabbed a bottle of black suede cleaner, thinking it was paint, and set out to create some art on our white sneakers.
With the bottle in hand, he approached me and asked if the 'paint' was used for applying on shoes. I answered yes, without thinking through the consequences. Little did I know, he had a creative plan in mind.
When I finally hung up the call and went to check on him, I found black and brown spatters on the tiles next to the shoe rack and suede spills on the corridor sink. He was holding both suede bottles, mixing the two colours to create a third.
I was furious, but as I looked at my son, I realized he was just trying to be creative. He had come to confirm with me that the black paint is usually applied on shoes, and I had said yes. I had let myself get too engrossed in the call, creating a loophole for him to explore.
As a parent, it's a delicate balance between overreacting and allowing your child to push their creativity to new levels. In this moment, I struggled to find that balance. I couldn't forgive myself for saying yes to shoo him off my phone call without thinking through the consequences.
As I looked at my son sleeping, I couldn't help but wonder what was going through his mind. Was he still trying to wrap his head around how dad said paint was for shoes, only to be scolded for doing exactly that?
As I reflect on this experience, I'm left with a question: how do parents recover when they overreact? Is it by talking it out with their child, or by letting it slide and hoping they'll forget? Only time will tell.
