A scene from last week.
I’m 39 weeks pregnant and in full-on Nesting Mode. Also, Luke wakes up by 7:00am no matter what time he ends up falling asleep at night. So, it’s time to finally hang curtains in the kids’ bedrooms, to block early morning sunlight. We already have curtains available, brought from our other house and still in a box nearly 11 months later, but we left the old curtain rods mounted in the old house. Justin needs to go to Staples anyway, and Target is right across the highway. Let’s all go—I probably need the movement anyway, if you’re willing to walk at my waddling pace, which is even slower than Luke’s 2-year-old legs pace—and get the curtain rods.
We get inside the store and head toward the curtain rods. I mention to Justin that Miryam needs a new water bottle before school starts. I want her to have two, so I can wash one while she has the other with her at school; one of her current two has begun leaking a lot lately and needs to be replaced. Let’s let both kids pick out a new one. Luke prefers water bottle over lidded cup these days, too, anyway, when we’re out and about.
Curtain rods take 12 seconds. We move to the water bottle aisle. So many colors, characters, compositions. Immediately Luke finds the PJ Masks slot.
“PJ Masks! Look, Mommy!”
“Yeah, PJ Masks!” Miryam chimes in.
“Why PJ Masks? You don’t even watch PJ Masks. Here’s a Spider-Man one…”
Miryam says she wants Elsa or Wonder Woman. There are insulated cups with straws (think iced coffee) or screw top (not little-hands-friendly pop up spout) water bottles with Wonder Woman on them. Online I can find water bottles with Elsa on them.
“Do you want to wait two days for me to order an Elsa one online?”
No, she wants to pick from right here, today.
Can’t talk her into a second Minnie Mouse water bottle. Random colored shapes don’t entice her over “the characters.” To my dismay, not even Princess Poppy is catching her attention.
Meanwhile, Luke is carrying around the Spider-Man water bottle, as well as a MARVEL branded one with lots of heroes on it, and the PJ Masks one still. I remind him he can only keep one.
…and I try to direct him away from PJ Masks.
I have never even seen a single episode of PJ Masks. A couple years ago, a mom friend mentioned to me that the characters call each other names, and that she noticed a correlation between her own children watching the show and acting more bratty themselves, and that she had since banned the show from her household. She was a mom I respected, so I made a mental note that if we could avoid PJ Masks in our home, too, we would.
Well, kids on the playground, branding at the store, free hand-me-down pajamas, etc., and there is no way to shield them from exposure. They know exactly who the PJ Masks are. And for some reason, they’re super excited every time they come across them.
(Again, I’ve never actually watched it, so I am really not judging other parents whose kids do watch it. Just giving you a glimpse into why I was so narrow-eyed about my kids picking these up of alllll things.)
Guess how this episode ends…
…With Justin giving me a slightly weary look, which I understand: “Just let them get the PJ Masks.”
“Okay, fine, guys, if you want PJ Masks, get PJ Masks.”
“YAY!!!”
Me: *rolls eyes and moves on*
A few minutes later—because with my waddling, it takes several minutes to get back to the front of the store to check out—I’m still a little flustered by what just went down, but I’ve had a chance to take some deep breaths. I’m realizing that my aversion to my kids toting PJ Masks water bottles to school and the park is actually a fear of judgment of my parenting by other parents who, like me, have [probably mostly unfounded] prejudices against PJ Masks. In other words, I’m realizing it’s nothing more than my own pride. In that case, I should have just bought plain ones and hand-sharpied “I love broccoli because my mom cooks it delicious!” on the side.
Instead, letting my kids carry these water bottles around will be a lesson in humility for me.
Now a week later, the children are still thrilled with their choice! And the water bottles don’t leak. And no swimming pool moms have even given me any raised eyebrows over them yet. I think we’re all going to be fine.