As my wife and I trudge through the daily grind of parenting, we do our best to set a good example for our young children. After all, “monkey see, monkey do” is basically the mantra of parenthood. Little eyes are always watching, mimicking our every move with zero regard for consequences.
We try to model the biggies: never swearing in front of the kids - because, trust me, there’s nothing quite as mortifying as hearing your colorful language echoed in church or at the grocery store. We make sure fruits and veggies are served at every meal, and turning them into bite-sized pieces is always a family affair. We buckle up in the car and try our best not to speed—those tiny backseat drivers are quick to call out rolling stops and remind us that the police are always watching!
But it’s not just the major life lessons our kids pick up on; they’re also absorbing the mundane, everyday stuff. We recently learned this the hard way after some shoes started mysteriously disappearing around our house.
My wife, had just bought three new pairs of shoes for our two-year-old daughter - cute sandals and a couple of pairs of tennis shoes, all totaling about 60 bucks. A week into sporting her new kicks, one by one, the shoes began to vanish. We tore the house apart, checking every nook and cranny, the backyard, and even the garage. But in the end, the sneakers were still missing in action.
We tried interrogating her about the missing shoes, but questioning a two-year-old is like asking a puppy where it hid its bone. She just looked at us with her head tilted, utterly clueless.
So, where had the shoes gone?
One afternoon, while I was vegging out in front of the TV, she wandered in, grabbed the remote, and toddled off to the kitchen. Curious, I quietly followed her and peeked around the corner. There she was, confidently strutting up to our stainless steel trash can, pressing the foot pedal to open the lid, and tossing the remote inside.
And just like that, the mystery was solved.
Apparently, my daughter had been watching us dispose of trash as part of our daily routine and decided she’d lend a helping hand—only she hadn’t quite figured out the difference between garbage and perfectly good household items.
Somewhere in a Waste Management facility, there are three pairs of brand-new, size 7 shoes waiting to become compost—along with who knows what else our little helper decided to toss.
A trip back to the store and three new pairs of shoes later, we’re now keeping a much closer eye on all shoe-related activity in the house.
It’s hard to be mad at her; after all, she was just copying what she saw Mom and Dad doing. In the end, we got a pretty hilarious family story out of the whole fiasco. But as I glance around the room while typing this, I have to wrap up quickly - I can’t seem to find my stapler, cell phone, iPad, or the cat! I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.
Photography credit: Jeremy Padgett
