How Could I?

We have gotten through much of the almost-five-year-old whining and testing stage that we've been mired in for a while now. It still occurs occasionally, of course, and we still talk about it quite a bit. At the dinner table the other day, Elizabeth quietly said, "Mommy, sometimes when I'm disobedient, you do things that are cruel and say things that are cruel."

I felt terrible. I'm pretty careful about not making flippant comments that I would regret, but had something slipped out in my anger or exasperation that cut my little girl to the heart? What had I said or done that she would remember forever as an example of my "cruelty?"

It was time to apologize and make things right with my sweet, sensitive daughter. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry," I said. "What did I say or do that was so cruel?"

Elizabeth replied accusingly, "You said, 'Go have a time-out!'"

Phew!