Mom Tip #24

Sometimes you have to use kid logic to figure life out.

I have trained my children to scrape their plates into the trash and put them in the kitchen sink when they are done with a meal. Yesterday the fish sticks were a little hot when I put them on the plates so Mo asked if she could put hers in the freezer for a minute to cool them down. Sure, no problem! The meal went on like normal and I went to the bedroom to fold some laundry.

When I came back to the kitchen to load the dishwasher Mo’s plate was nowhere to be found! I asked her about it and she assured me repeatedly that she had put it on the counter beside the sink. I searched every possible nook and cranny of our kitchen and couldn’t find the plate. Well, it’ll turn up or start stinking. Either way I’ll find it.

About an hour later I was dealing out some fruit for dessert and I casually asked Tuck if he had seen Mo’s plate.

“Well, sure Mom! It’s in the fidge-ator!” and he opened the freezer door. There was Mo’s plate with 2 fish sticks and some almost frozen ketchup. Ummm, why son?

“Well if they were still hot she could come back and eat them later when they cooled down! See, Mom!” I was a complete and utter dingbat for not knowing it naturally.

Tuck cleans his plate at every meal. And by “cleans” I mean “licks it down to the paint!” So in his head the only possible reason she had left food on her plate – because who does that?! – was because it was still too hot; not because she was full. It made perfect sense that the plate was in the freezer.

This has cleared up so many things for me. Of course the dog leash should be under the couch because that’s where the dog also stores his ball, collar, and the cover for the dog door. Of course Daddy’s good shoes should be out on the deck in a rainstorm because they’re going to get wet when he goes to work anyway right? And why shouldn’t the baby have a pull up on her head? She’s the next one to potty train. She should keep that where she’ll be able to find it!

Life makes so much more sense when kid logic is applied.