We have a WHAT?!?
“A poopy incident.”
Said the school nurse at my son’s school when she called me at work.“I’m sorry, are you trying to tell me that my son pooped his pants?” I asked incredulously as my son was in first grade and had been potty trained for four years now, so she couldn’t be telling me he pooped his pants.“Yes, that’s exactly what I am saying” was her response.I surprisingly got my stuff together to realize that I had to respond to her and figure out what she wanted from me since I was at work, and I discovered that apparently my son would need to be picked up and taken home to get cleaned up. I hung up the phone, called hubby who works closer to my son and made the plan for him to go pick up our son. After I hung up the phone with hubby, I sat back in my chair at the office and literally laughed my butt off. What else could I do?
Motherhood...never a dull moment
I realized that this was one of those great joys of motherhood that no one could tell you about. Sure, anyone could get called from the school nurse to be told that their son got sick, but how many people get called to say that there has been a “poopy incident.” We had poopy incidents all the time when he was a baby and had what we lovingly called, “colon blows,” but again, at 7, I thought those days were long gone.Later that evening, we all had a conversation at the dinner table about said event and I was actually proud of my son for not getting too upset about the whole thing and creating more drama in school. I had emailed his teacher to ask if there would be any negative repercussions with his classmates making fun of him or something and she said that none of them actually knew what was happening and it was all very discreet. During this dinnertime chat, my hubby shared with my son that he has had some near miss poopy incidents as an adult. What???? This was news to me. Apparently guys have serious challenges with going to the bathroom at any age.
Sometimes we are the students not the teachers
So, why am I talking about poopy nonstop other than the fact that I am a parent and after your first time of getting pooped on, nothing fazes you? Because even though there are all sorts of financial lessons I want to teach my son, I realize that he has actually taught me a lot as well. I was really impressed with the way that he handled himself through this situation, and I realized that we all have poopy incidents when it comes to our finances. In other words, something unexpected that arises and can literally ruin your day, your life, your property, etc.
Lessons from the poopy incident
If you have a poopy situation where your finances are concerned, here are some steps you can take, just like my son, to move forward.
Realize that sh&t happens (literally and figuratively)
It seems like no matter how hard we try to plan our lives, there will always be something that comes up that we were not expecting. I think the best way to handle it is to realize that these events no matter how bad are just inevitable and we just have to work through them the best we can.
Don’t make the problem worse
My son did try to clean up his mess but then realized that if he tried too hard, he was only going to make more of a mess. If you have a financial problem like too much credit card debt, don’t make it worse by continuing to use your cards. Sometimes you have to stop and think about what you are doing and realize you will make it worse if you proceed.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
Despite his initial embarrassment, my son knew that he needed to get his teacher’s help to move on. Sometimes our financial poopy incidents get so big, that we really do need to ask for help, and the help that we ask for could be as simple as asking for moral support or maybe you need to get a loan from a family member to help you out. No matter what your financial situation, don’t struggle too long alone when there are plenty of helpful resources.
Learn from your mistakes
Just recently we were waiting at the bus stop and my son said that his stomach bothered him. I asked if he thought he needed to poop and he said no, but when I pushed him, he said that maybe he should try. So we left the bus stop and sure enough, the stomachache he felt turned out to be a poop and I drove him to school instead. Financial poopy incidents are not fun, but they all also provide us with great learning lessons and we need to heed those lessons and not repeat the past.
Always remember to laugh
I honestly don’t know how I would get through a day without laughing. But it is really important to remember to find humor even in the worst situations. My son is at the point now where we laugh about the poopy incident and I think it is healthy for him. I look back on my financial problems and can find a way to laugh at all of them. Some of them took me a while to find the humor, but the laughter really does alleviate the stress you felt from the financial situation.GIF Source: GIPHY.com