You are never too old to learn...

I am amazed at the things my children teach me. Everyday is a new learning experience:

- If you don't have a napkin, wiping your hands on the nearest item is acceptable. This can be the shirt I am wearing, the kitchen counter or clean clothes hanging in my closet. Ditto for blowing your nose.

- Why play with your own stuff when someone else's things seem so much more fun? I have opened many a lipstick to discover that I was not the last one to enjoy wearing it. The caveat to this lesson is that just when you think you can reclaim your own items, your child turns 12 and your things are AGAIN no longer your own. I did have to emphatically stress to my preteen that razors and toothbrushes are for INDIVIDUAL use.

- Stains that you thought could NEVER come out of clothes/fabric actually do! today I learned that melted "Silly Putty" easily comes out of sheets. I think the only way it could have been melted ON the sheets is by someone sleeping on it. The blanket was simply trashed. I did not have the energy to tackle that one. I have also learned this lesson with crayon, marker, nail polish and permanent marker. the last one was a life long lesson - Do NOT buy Sharpies again until the kids are 18. (my daughter drew "rain" on the siding of the house with a blue sharpie. After months of scrubbing it DID come out)!

- Something scary is under the bed - If you have kids this is actually true. Not for the kids but for the parents. I recently retrieved a petrified bagel from behind the dresser and a pencil box with a strange pink liquid concoction floating in it. Finding things like this are a daily occurance at my home. Strange as they are not allowed to eat or drink in their rooms.

- Empty boxes can go in the fridge - or the freezer, under the bathroom sink, etc,.. Take your pick. If it is empty, never (Alas!) recycle or discard! Nope - put it back where you found it.

- Unscrewing the bottom of a lamp, setting it on the floor and putting a blanket on top if it can cause a fire - This was during my oldest "busy", child's take-everything-apart-and-try-to-put-it-back-together phase. I won't elaborate much further than to say that in addition to my oldest I had a toddler, a newborn and a fortunately husband that is good in an emergency. *** In all fairness it was not the ONLY fire we had in the house. I also learned (the hard way), that turkey bacon cooks MUCH quicker than regular bacon. ***

Nail polish that is stuck shut can explode when opened. Thankfully this lesson was learned in the kitchen where nailpolish remover could be used on the floors and the kitchen table. Sadly it was learned AFTER I said "do not try to open that".

Please feel free to post YOUR lessons learned here :)