Never say never

I have once again been humbled by parenthood. I really should have seen it coming. I've been riding a bit of a "good" mom high lately - helping coach Ella's soccer team, regularly trying out healthy new dinner recipes and figuring out endless ways to make Ryan laugh. But the parenting gods see everything and they figured it was time to remind me that I am not all-powerful.

The story's actually quite simple. I don't like Crocs, those rubber slip-on shoes that everyone pulls out as soon as the snow thaws. I think they're ugly and don't provide good support and are expensive for what you get. And so when Ella got to sandal-wearing age, I promised that she would never ever ever wear Crocs. And she hasn't.

You know where this is going, don't you?

Fast forward a few years and I'm now buying sandals for little Ryan. And for some reason, Crocs now seem like the perfect solution. I still think they're ugly and don't provide good support and are expensive, but ... they're also easy to get on and off, can stand up to all his water play and fit his chubby little feet. I resisted for as long as I could (I had promised, you know) and then I just gave in - match point to the parenting gods. And so I walked, slump-shouldered, with my debit card in hand into the Croc store and bought Ryan his first (and likely not last) pair of Crocs.

The kicker to this story, of course, is that Ryan isn't a big fan of his new shoes. Too bad, little guy - if I'm going to break a parenting promise (one that was strangely important to me), then you're going to wear your new Crocs and love them.