When My 2-Year-Old Almost Ruined the Heirloom Rug

When My 2-Year-Old Almost Ruined the Heirloom Rug

Yesterday afternoon I walked into the kitchen and discovered 4-year-old Tsofia and 2-year-old Yaakov huddled around the sink, filling a plastic box to the rim with water and plastic toy vegetables.

“Only in the sink, OK Tsoofy?” Tsofia nodded her head with a look of solemn comprehension and I returned to the living room to change the baby’s diaper.

A few minutes later, I looked up from the baby’s new diaper to see Yaakov carrying the box full of water,standing over our antique Persian carpet, an heirloom which we inherited from my husband’s Omi.

I had barely let out a yell of “Yaakov, don’t….!” when Yaakov looked me straight in the eye and flipped over the box containing at least a gallon of water onto that carpet which had been shipped from Germany to Canada and then to Israel, where it was entrusted into our “safekeeping.”

I make an effort to refrain from speaking lashon hara about myself, so I will not detail what I did next.

That evening, when my husband came home, he asked why his Omi’s treasured carpet was hanging over the living room chairs.

“Yaakov poured a box full of water onto it.”

“Oh. Well, at least it wasn’t honey. Remember when one of the kids poured a huge container of honey onto the sofa?”

“Yep,” I laughed, “good thing it wasn’t honey.”

“And good thing it wasn’t paint. Remember a few years ago when Yoel spilled 20 liters of paint all over the upstairs hallway?”

“You’re right,” I laughed again, “good thing it wasn’t paint, like that time. That was awful. This time it was only water. It will dry. No big deal.”

“Right, no big deal.”

I’m telling you this whole story, because most people think that parenting gets tougher as your family grows, but I’ve found the opposite to be true.

And one of the things that makes it so much easier is this…

The knowledge that it wasn’t honey this time.

And it wasn’t paint this time.

The gift of perspective that helps molehills to remain molehills.

At least some of the time…

6 comments

  1. Many Russians hang rugs on the wall for decoration. Many if this is such a treasured rug, you can do that, might look nice.

  2. If it is so precious, maybe move it until the kids are bigger. Kids are kids…

    • but then you’ll have to worry about the grandkids ruining your delicate stuff….

  3. At least it got ‘washed’ for Pesach! Glad you could laugh about it later. (You don’t specify – but it is always good to apologize to a kid if we over-react in anger. This teaches them about how to do teshuva.)

  4. GOOD STORY, CHANA JENNY!

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