BAD Decision

So I'm human. I make mistakes. Quite a few actually. Today was no exception. It started out this morning by me telling the kids not to ride the bus home today because I would be picking them up via carpool. Mini#2 asked me what "via" meant. Mini#1 and 2 asked me "WHY?" I said nonchalantly, "It's a surprise." They both got excited, made a few good and off-the-wall guesses and off to school they went. This afternoon I sat in the car sweltering in the heat for an hour and 20 mins through 2 carpool lines and started to feel a twinge of guilt. Mini#2 thought we were going to go get pumpkins and carve them. Mini#1 thought we were going roller skating by the direction we were headed. It was only a mere moments before we reached our destination that mini#1 (7th grade) yelled, "MAYBE it's a BAD surprise and we're going to the doctor!" And he was right. FLU SHOTS! Mini#2 (3rd grade) cried, said he wasn't getting out of the car and expressed his extreme dislike of me all within 2-3 mins. Of course, due to allergies, he gets the raw deal of the actual shot and mini#1 just has to inhale the live virus (and believe me I am soooo thankful for that after his displays of downright embarrassing behavior over shots in the past). We survived and I kept explaining to them, "See. This way was better. You only had to worry about it for a few minutes and not all day if I had told you this morning." AND I didn't have to hear all the moaning and groaning non-stop as I have in the past. I call it creative parenting.

But I did feel a twinge of guilt, as I said, so I decided to treat them to ice cream. I had a coupon for a free milkshake at Chick-Fil A that expired tomorrow. This is the second bad decision I made. While the two boys ate their cones watching a video in the back seat (shots long forgotten), I inhaled the SMALL Mocha Cookies and Cream milkshake, but I left the whipped cream in the bottom of the cup. I've heard that Hollywood actors live on milkshakes when they are asked to gain weight for a role. I decided to take a look at the nutritional information for this milkshake I just inhaled. Ummmm. BAD decision 1) to look at this information after I drank it and 2) that I got this at all. It was anything but FREE. A small was 660 calories and 24g of fat. OMG. A Big Mac (for comparison purposes only) is 550 calories and 29g of fat. I now am kicking myself because I ran outside for 4 miles after pilates today in the high humidity for nothing! Well, ok, so not really for nothing, but you get what I'm saying.

Lesson learned: You can be a creative parent, but have an ice cream cone with them instead of a milkshake when you are easing your parental guilt!