Have You Ever?

Have you ever had to be the bad guy, the villain, the hard ass? I have and can tell you, it doesn't get easier with each portrayal.



Our latest entry in the saga of Mom involves my daughter and a kitten. The lady up the street has a cat who recently had a litter of kittens. Of course, Sarah wanted to see them. Of course, the minute she saw them, she wanted one. I will point out one fact: we already have a cat named Snowball. She's been part of our family since we adopted her off the street over a year ago.



Sarah did what any kid would do...she whined and begged and promised to do extra chores and even vacuum to help us pay for the cat and she would never, ever, EVER ask for ANYTHING EVER AGAIN. I did what any parent in this situation would do. With much mustache twirling and wild gesticulating like a silent movie villain, I told her no.



Of course I had to endure "whywhywhywhywhy?" My answers were clear, concrete and something only a boring-old grown-up would understand: we have no money to spare, we're trying to save up to build a house, the menagerie stops at two animals, a meteor may hit the house and Bruce Willis won't save us.



My husband would argue that my answers in the previous paragraph were the same ones I gave before we got Snowball. Yes, but that was different. Don't smirk, it was. It was October and nobody in the neighborhood was stepping up to take this poor, half-starved cat in for the winter. Snowball wouldn't have survived. The neighbor's kittens are in an air-conditioned house, given three hots and a cot and are safe from the cat-eating highway.



It's not easy being the bad guy, but unless I want a my daughter to turn into Varuka Salt, she has to learn that she doesn't get everything she wants. But I'm still going to take Sarah up on the offer of vacuuming.