Killer Seaweed.

A few years back I noticed that I was changing my parenting depending on the setting.
It was something that was very confusing to my daughter and inevitably left me feeling disappointed in myself.

It seemed I felt social pressure (imagined or real) to respond in a certain way instead of just being consistent with our usual responses. Once I was aware of the chaos it caused - I stopped doing it.
Aaah - much better.

Until yesterday.

If you haven't had the toasted seaweed snack from Trader Joe's - run, don't walk, to get some.
The seven year old LOVES it. I put it in her snack pack most days.

She came to me and asked if she could have a whole packet each day. I said no.

"Pleeeeeze - everyone else gets a whole packet."

I stayed firm.
Until yesterday.

We slept in. Just a little - but we were really rushing for the bus.
Rather than open a packet of the beloved seaweed, remove some and place it in a separate container - I tossed the packet in.
As I was doing it - I thought - 'She'll be so happy that I let her be like everyone else."
She was. Then it happened.

It - was the eating of The Silica Packet.
She thought it was a little bag of crystalized sugar that I'd put in as a treat.

You can imagine the scenario at school when the teacher noticed. The Poison Control center was called. There were some moments of panic which the seven year old took as an indication she was going to die.
She cried for 40 minutes.

I felt horrible. Why have I never pointed out silica packets before? How could I not have warned her or removed it?
(FYI - Silica is non-toxic to humans. The reasons it is labelled so dramatically is because of choking hazard regulations.)
Lesson learned. Stick to my methods.

There are just some moments in parenting that you can never be prepared for. Sigh.