Justification and Come-Back Lines

Yesterday, I spent the better part of an hour deep within the throws of self-justification. It went like this: Sam wanted to ride his scooter. He also wanted to go the Junior Museum and Zoo, "To see all the animals." So I packed up the kids, and the scooter and the helmet and the baby bjorn and the jackets (which by the way, must be removed for any length of car ride) and the snacks and the hats...you get the idea. When we got the the museum I discovered that, of course, it is never open on Mondays. So we decided to pull out the scooter and go for a ride. Sam is just learning to ride his scooter, and while he's pretty good for a three year old, he mostly makes little hops for a few seconds and then walks it for a few blocks. So, when he decided to throw a tantrum in the muddy parking lot about not wanting wearing his helmet, I took the survivor's route and let him go without it. (Sorry Jen.) We were riding (walking...you see, I'm still self-justfying) the scooter happily for about a block when out of the blue a women on her bike pulls over in our path. She looks at me and in one of those gentle, condescending ways says, "You, know, I had a really bad fall on one of those scooters. You really should put a helmet on him. At least that's what I think." I said thank you and walked on trying to be calm, but inside I was so mad. I spent Sam's whole ride and the ride back home thinking of the most stinging comebacks I could think of and justifying my son's lack of helmetage in every way I could. But, in the end she was right. Was she right to stop me and tell me her opinion? Probably not. But she was right about the helmet. No denying it. That night at dinner Nathan said I should have just given her the bird and walked on. So, to the mother who has never given in to her child in order to keep a semblance of sanity (there's the self-justification again), this is for you.