Tricks of the Trade - Now With A Free Sample Of Humility

My new best friend is a carpet Shark.

No, not this:



Or this:


Or this:


This:



I learned of this brilliant invention when I was at my sister’s house one day for lunch. After the Babies finished their meal, she nonchalantly pulled out one of these beauties and effortlessly started sweeping up mac ‘n cheese, Cheerios, and other assorted crumbs. (I swear, I’m not being paid to write this. Really.)

“OH MY GOD!” I exclaimed. “What is that wonderful thing?”

“A carpet shark,” she said. “Don’t you have one?”

Ummm...NO.

She got me a Shark as a housewarming gift. It’s been my constant companion ever since.

Honestly, before we had kids Husband and I were child-rearing snobs. My child will never eat frozen chicken nuggets. My child will never watch DVD’s in the car. Fruit cocktail is not a fruit.

But with each passing month, we learned how judgmental we were, how ridiculous we were behaving. There is a place in the world for chicken nuggets and fruit cocktail. It’s ok to keep Dora on an endless loop during a 10-hour car ride if it means we reach our destination intact.

It is incredibly difficult to admit I was wrong.

We, all us parents, are just trying to get along one day at a time.

Sometimes there is no right or wrong, just what’s right for your family at this moment.

So is there anything out there, besides experience and self-reflection, that will make me realize when I’m being a judgmental idiot? Maybe something like a unicorn that pokes me in the backside when I do wrong, but snorts glitter and rainbows out of its nose when I do right?

Because that would be awesome.