Don't Try This at Home

OK. First let me say that I was asked not to share the name of the child that this story is about. Apparently there is quite a bit of embarrassment involved. So I will simply refer to the guilty party as "Kiddo".

So. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth after a nice long nap in preparation for a trip to church. Garrett had Bible Drill, Lindsay Velocity and the older girls and I planned to work in the gym collecting shoe boxes. These afternoons present quite a challenge in our house. Cynthia and Kimberly have to fix their hair and change clothes at least 3 times, Lindsay can never find her vest, bag and book, Garrett doesn't want to turn off the TV until the last possible moment and I usually have to look for either my keys or my cellphone.

Amidst all the chaos Kiddo walked into the bathroom, face down and eyes on the floor. "Mom. I need your help." Kiddo mumbled never looking up. "How do you get bubblegum out of hair?"

To make a long story short Kiddo had decided to try something they had seen in a movie recently. I don't really remember the exact part, but apparently there is a scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where someone puts gum behind their ear to save it for later.

We had to cut some hair and the bright yellow gum refused to come off the back of Kiddo's ear, but we learned a valuable lesson about reality vs television. I laughed, but not too hard. After all, I was the one who watched A Christmas Story and decided to stick my tongue to the metal mailbox outside.