Toothpaste on the Bathmat and Other Sticky Situations of Parenthood (Part 1) – Jennifer Bogdanowicz

I wash the bathmats. Often.

I have no idea how they do it. Well, I do.

That doesn’t make it less annoying to walk in to brush my teeth only to have my bare foot stick, to my freshly washed mat.

Grrr…

But, there are bigger things, stickier things that plant themselves on my heart that are harder to remove than a few tiny bits of Transformers overspray.

Like – This lingering sense that we missed something BIG in helping our oldest son learn to the best of his ability – Oh wait, we did!

Last week we discovered our oldest son has mild to moderate hearing loss that will require hearing aids and apart from a miracle, it is permanent. Yes, he’s 8. Yes, I had wondered for years if that was a problem. Yes, I’ve never missed a checkup and had the Doc look at his ears several times.  Yes, I thought he was “selectively” listening to us and had consequences accordingly. Yes, like a drop of toothpaste drool, I didn’t think it was really there until I stepped squarely in it.

And, like the blue foamy gunk, the guilt of the oversight sticks. It feels emotionally more like gum imbedded in the tread of my favorite shoe, but when I stop and think through the past several years that I have prayed over my son, seeking God’s wisdom and insight on how to raise him for the destiny he was designed for, I am very aware again of God’s perfect timing.

Trusting God with my kids is always sticky because I like to think that I am the one who knows what’s best for them. A lot of the time, I do. But I have the choice when I am dealing with this kind of sticky situation to view it as catastrophic like Bubble Yum squished into every crevice of my best running shoe or as a frustrating but simply removed minty fresh splash that ended up on my naked sole.

I am not likely to miss this kind of issue again. All the other little anatomically perfect ears in our home will receive the testing that checks the nerve development, the hidden culprit in this situation in the next few weeks.

Wisdom gleaned from sticky situations can always be applied to future possibilities. I plan to listen to my internal wonderings more carefully, respond more quickly, coach a little more on containing the slobbery brushing to the sink, and continue to wash my bath mats.