That term used to have such a different meaning in my college/pre-children work days! I'm sure every parent knows what I mean. I experienced the perfect cost/benefit parenting situation today.
Abbie is sick. I think she just has a bad cold, but she is miserable. I am miserable having to deal with a miserable child. It was lunch time, and I wanted to feed Abbie before I fed Carter, because we all know how long that takes! I tried to convince Abbie to leave my bathroom so she could go eat lunch. A meltdown soon followed. Fine, I thought. I just went out and started making her lunch. She stayed in my bathroom and was very quiet. Of course, it was the "bad/something not good is going on in there" quiet. The thoughts that went through my head were 1) she probably has taken all of my disposable contacts out of their boxes and they are now all over the floor (which she likes to do frequently) or 2) she is going through my drawer and messing with all of my face creams and lotion or 3) she is playing with my makeup. In that moment I decided that none of those things was worth sacrificing my few minutes of peace and quiet. The "cost" of having to pick up after her was definitely not outweighed by the "benefit" of my sick and miserable child being quiet for a few minutes.
When I finally went in to make sure she was still alive, I found her playing with my half-empty hand soap pump. She had liquid soap all over her hands and then proceeded to smear it all over her face when she saw me. When I instinctively shouted no, she started wailing! There went my few minutes of quiet!
On a side note, Carter starts waterbabies tomorrow, which I am totally unprepared for and keep forgetting about! Wish us luck!
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