Cool Mom

This weekend I discovered how quickly a mom's status can change in the eyes of her eleven-year-old son. My son recently spent some time visiting a friend with mother who is hot tempered. He said to me Friday night, "You don't yell as much as most moms."

I responded, "Would you like me to yell more?"

"No. How come you don't yell that much?"

My 17-year-old daughter chimed in, "Because she's a cool mom." (Now you know why I said she's my best friend!)

To my surprise, my son agreed and for a couple days I was "Cool Mom". Naturally, I was loving this new title and the admiration that accompanied it. I wasn't like most moms. I was cool. I was "Cool Mom". Yeah...

Bed time rolled around and you could barely get into my son's bedroom through all the hundreds of Lego parts he and his friend had left all over the room. I told him he needed to pick them all up.

"Can I just clean off the ones on my bed?"

"No, all of them. I don't want to be crawling around the floor picking up all those little pieces."

"Can I just move them to the shelf?"

"No. I'll give you some little bags you can put them in."

"Oh man...you're not cool anymore. A COOL mom wouldn't make me do this. You're a really UNcool mom."

I left him grumbling about my lack of coolness while grudingly picking up the Legos. COOL status is so fleeting.