Checkmate

April 13, 2010

It was fairly early on that I recognized the distinct possibility that my kids were going to be smarter than me. I'm not saying I'm dumb; I'm just saying that sometimes the things these kids come up with are pretty amazing.

Take Brianna, for example. When she was in second grade, she and her best friend Macie spent all their time planning out sleepovers and playdates on the weekends and after school. They were little twins, inseparable.

It was no surprise, then, when I picked Brianna up from school one day and she said, "Mom, can Macie and I have a sleepover this weekend?"

"Have you guys already talked to Macie's mom? That works with our schedule, but I don't know what kinds of things they have going on this weekend."

"Macie said her mom said it was okay, too."

I looked back at Bree in her car seat through the rearview mirror. "Okay, so what do you want to do? Do you guys want to go over to Macie's, or sleep over at our house?"

"Mom," she said, in a slightly patronizing tone, shaking her head at me, "we don't make those decisions." She pinched her forefinger and thumb together and mimicked picking something up and moving it over. "We are merely pawns in your game of chess. You and Cindi are the players who get to decide when and where we move on the board."

Seriously? I'm not even exaggerating here; those were her exact words. This was my seven-year-old. I had no idea that she even knew what the game of chess was, let alone that she had the ability to use it as a metaphor for parental power! I knew right then and there that it would only be a matter of time before I would be out-matched.