and the WORST mother of the year award goes to...

Before you say... "no, no, no" let me tell you the story!

It all happened on our last trip to Glenwood Springs. The development my brother and his family live in has a pool - complete with water slide. It's not a HUGE water slide, but a good size for a "family pool." Well, as soon as we get in the gate, Riley (the more cautious of the Darden boys) makes a Bee-line for the slide. I, in my wisdom, tell him to wait and we'll go down together. Let me just make this disclaimer: I have not been on a waterslide since before the boys were born and because of that forgot a key part of the waterslide experience - the overwhelming push of the water at the end!

So... back to the story. By the time I make it up the 10 steps (maybe a few more or less, I wasn't really counting), Riley is READY! He's sitting and all set. I sit behind him and we head down the slide. Unknown to me, my brother yelled, "you've gotta put him on your lap" as we were coming down... tooo late! We get to the bottom and Riley is pushed underwater. Riley does not like going underwater or surprises and needless to say... he comes up SCREAMING!!!! My oldest, usually fairly calm, even-keel like his dad, son is SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER! The one phrase I remember most is "I did not like that at ALL, please get me out of here" (hey, at least the boy remembered his manners. My brother came over to try and help... it was a great effort but not well received by my SCREAMING 5 year old!

All this while I am thinking "NO!!!!!!! Anyone but Riley! Now he will never, EVER go on waterslides again - i mean EVER! In fact, he may never go down a slide again."

So, in an effort to calm him, I set him on the side of the pool and waited for him to breathe. When he calmed down, I said "Sweetheart, I am so sorry (meanwhile, in my head, I am hating myself). I know that you were scared but I want you to know that you can go down the waterslide with out going underwater. So, Uncle Jared will hold you on his lap and he will not let you go under! Are you ready?

If you know Riley, you know his answer was "No! I don't want to do that!"

To which I replied "Sweetheart, you can not go play - you can not leave this part of the pool until you try it again." and I'm thinking "I am quite possibly the meanest mother on the face of the planet - but, if he doesn't conquer this fear now, he never will!

His response was not surprising " I REALLY don't want to do that!"

Finally he realized that he was not going to win this one and went down with my brother...
someday we will laugh about this... until then, you can laugh at these pictures!