Parent Radar

When I was little my mom could tell I'd been up to something the moment I walked in the door, before I even said a word. Lying wasn't really an option either because she had a 6th sense that would scare the crap out of most psychics. Now that my children are of the age where they're trying to become sneaky, I've figured out how she used to do it.

Lately, Austin and Connor have decided that if I tell them no all they have to do is wait until I'm not in the room to go ahead and do it anyway. Then they are always amazed when they get caught. Most of the time they do something that puts them in the running for "World's Dumbest Criminals", but often I can tell just by looking at them.

So after a little thought about this phenomenon here's my analogy for how this part of the parenting process goes down. Children, unbeknownst to them, are like little bats sending out guilty signals as they fly around. These guilt signals then bounce off of their parents and are picked up by "parent radar". After awhile, parent radar becomes extremely sensitive and can sense mischief even when the child is not in close proximity.

So, in summary, when my children get that bewildered look and ask, "How did you know?", I reply just like my mother used to, "I always know," and hopefully this scares them as bad as it used to scare me!