Families logo

Craptastic!

Everyone makes mistakes, this is a simple fact of life. But we get to choose how we respond to our mistakes. We can either let them derail us, or we can keep pushing forward and enjoy the experience. As a parent, we have the immense responsibility on our shoulders of teaching our children how to react when they mess up. We best show them through our actions.

By Lolly VieiraPublished 2 years ago 2 min read
3
The final product. It was delicious!

A lot of what I've learned this year is that you can either make mistakes or you can have happy little accidents.

I bought a box of cookie mix today. My son and I were supposed to make bat cookies for Halloween. It came with a powdered mix, a cookie cutter, and two different colors of frosting. All we needed was a large egg and 4 tablespoons of butter. Easy, right? Well, being an enthusiastic seven-year-old, he was incredibly excited to be baking with Momma and he threw the stick of butter into the powder mix with an egg in it before I had a chance to melt the butter. So, I decided, whatever, let's try to blend it up anyways. I put the forks I’d had out away and grabbed my electric mixer.

It didn't work. I just had chunks of refrigerated butter covered in powder in a bowl of powder with a chocolate flavored snot stuck to the side of the bowl. Being the absolute genius that I am, I was like okay let's just throw another egg in there to moisten it up! Our powder quickly became a gooey cake mix that was never in a million years going to be rolled out as a dough and cut by a cookie cutter. After unsuccessfully attempting to thicken the mix with flour, I decided we'd turn this abomination into an adventure.

We pulled out our cookie sheet, lined it with tin foil, and spread some walnut oil on it. Then I told my son, “Do you see this? We’re not making bats. We’re going to make POOP instead!” Obviously, children and people my age with the maturity of a child find fecal matter incredibly hilarious. With each goop of brown mush hitting the tray, we yelled, “PLOP!” We made grunting noises and pretended to smell them then act grossed out. He asked me if they were still going to taste good and I told him that they would be craptastic. It may have honestly been more fun than using a cookie cutter.

My son didn't care that I messed up the world's simplest recipe. He didn't judge me for being baking illiterate. Instead, we shared our laughter with one another and enjoyed the journey despite taking an entirely different path. I made a choice to make baking with him fun, no matter what. Sure, there was a moment where I started calling myself names in my head. I told myself I was an idiot, that I should have known better. I berated myself for not knowing that there is clearly a difference between cookie dough and cake batter, for not just melting the butter. For a second, I wanted to just throw the whole experiment away. But I asked myself what would happen if I did that. Nothing good, that was for sure. My son would be disappointed we didn’t get cookies, he might even blame himself for it, and I knew I didn’t want that. I asked myself what would it teach my son? It would teach him to criticize himself when he makes a mistake, to just give up when things don’t go as planned. And that wasn’t what I want to teach him. I want him to learn to laugh at slip ups. I want him to learn to enjoy the ride and keep moving forward even when you have no idea what you're doing. I think that's a much more important and relevant life lesson. It's a lesson I could've used as a child.

Our turd cookies tasted craptastic!

humanity
3

About the Creator

Lolly Vieira

Welcome to my page where I make sense of all the facets of myself through poetry and short stories.

I'm an artist of many mediums and strive to know and do better every day.

https://linktr.ee/lollyslittlelovelies

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.