A Lesson in Sneakiness

I quickly check to make sure Roxy is sufficiently distracted with her playtime not to notice me. Then, quiet as a mouse, I open the pantry door and fish out the stray mini sized Kit-Kat bar, left over from Halloween that I found behind the bottled water yesterday. Just as I take the first bite I hear Roxy's voice, "Mama?" I start chewing faster, hoping I won't be caught!

She calls again, "Mama?"
"Be right there..." I quickly respond, desperately trying to finish chewing before she sees me.
I hear the patter of her little feet coming through the house and I try not to let the panic show in my face. There's only one tiny piece left and I don't want to share it! Besides, she doesn't need any chocolate this close to lunch!
As she gets close to me she says, "What's in your mouth?"
I open my mouth, praying there's no sign of chocolate, and nonchalantly say, "Nothing. Why?"

Every parent's 'You Won't Believe What My Kid Did' story begins with, "All of the sudden I realized it was really quiet..." But, its not just the kids who are guilty of this behavior! Grown-ups are very sneaky as well, maybe even more sneaky than the kids are! But, we don't often get caught... and if we do get caught, we always have a 'really good reason' for our actions.

Growing up, I would have never thought that my parents were sneaky. But, now I realize there's no way that they raised three kids without being sneaky. Now that they have three adult children and four grandchildren, I'm sure they're as sneaky as ever!

The key is to be selectively sneaky. Sneaking medicine into a child's favorite food so that they'll take it and get better is a good thing. However, I may want to rethink sneaking that candy... after all, it WAS her Halloween candy. Not to mention that I don't need chocolate any more than she does!

So, for the next week I'm going to re-evaluate the times I sneak things around my kids (and others, I mean its not like I let my husband know about that candy bar either)!