Your Kids’ Awkward Moments Revealed
Thanks for sharing some of the awkward moments your kids have had. While none of these stories are funny to our children, it does show us that kids really are all alike. They all worry about the same thing: public humiliation!
Here’s my two cents on what we can do to help our children if they ever experience an awkward moment like the ones other parents have shared.
I tell my kids that life is journey and that along the way we will hit bumps in the road, and so we just need to know how to steer around them.
Awkward Moment:
“Not sure how to handle this. My 6 year old son was at his friend’s house and they were playing soccer in the house and he accidently hit a glass knocking it over and breaking it. It was only a water glass, but I guess he just cleaned it up and told his friend not to tell his mom. He only told me two days later! I am not sure what to do now.”
My Two Cents:
Even though it has been a few days since your son broke the glass, I would use this as a learning opportunity in responsibility and honestly. I would suggest that he write the mom (you can help him of course) a note saying that he is sorry that he broke the glass and that he would be happy to pay to replace it. Then, I would have your son take the note over to the house and personally give the mom the letter. If she wants him to pay to replace the glass, then you can come up with some chores for him to do to earn the money. It’s a little lesson now, but a big life lesson.
Awkward Moment:
“My 12 year old daughter just had a horribly embarrassing moment. She really likes Jake, a boy in her class, and she was texting her friend talking about him, but apparently, instead of just texting her friend back, she replied to a group text that included Jake! She texted to a group of about 6 kids ‘Jake is the cutest boy in class!’ Well, you can imagine what happened after she realized what she had done. I still made her to go school the next day, but she really didn’t want to! I guess she has learned her lesson about texting!”
My Two Cents:
Mom, you did the right thing by making your daughter go to school. I am wondering what she texted after she made that faux pas? She could have sent a brief text to the group saying something humorous to cover herself, or just fessed up and said “sorry, I didn’t mean to send that.” I would have told her then not to engage in any more texts with that group for the rest of the night to let the whole thing blow over without adding more fuel to the fire. If she can keep her head held high and not worry about it, I believe everything will work out. You are right, I’m sure she will make sure she reviews every text she sends to make sure it has gone to the right person!
Awkward Moment:
“My 8 year old son got caught by his friends in a lie and now he is so upset. He told them that we were going to Disney World for Christmas and he was bragging to them about all of the things we were going to do (even some things they don’t have at Disney!). Then in the car the other day, one of the kids asked me about our Disney trip and I said (because I had no idea about this grand lie), ‘We aren’t going to Disney!’ Well that started it. My son was called out by his friends and they made him feel really bad about lying to them.”
My Two Cents:
Wow, in this case there is nothing you could have done to have prevented this from happening. I imagine that you have talked to your son about the importance of being truthful and how our lies will eventually come back to bite us in the butt! I bet your son will not do this again!
And the last thing I will say is this… our kids learn from our actions, behaviors and attitudes. If we do the right thing, treat people with honestly and respect, we can help our kids do the same. And, we should not take ourselves too seriously! Stuff happens and so it’s just about having a sense of humor!
Unfortunately, I am sure there are more awkward moments your kids have endured, so if you would like to share, please send me an email to aimee@finesseworldwide.com and I’ll share them in another post.
Aimee Symington is the CEO of Finesse Worldwide, Inc. which offers children’s etiquette classes in Davidson and in the Charlotte area. For more information go to www.FinesseWorldwide.com or for the Charlotte class Sign-Up page click HERE.
