Sunday, July 18, 2010

How Jellyfish Have Tested My Parenting Skills

Another Washington picture/story because I forgot my camera cord to share Edmonton pictures.

Last summer, my son was in Puerto Vallarta with his dad. He came home with a terrible jellyfish sting. He told me that the sting was from a Portuguese Man-of-War. Being the excellent mom that I am, I told him to stop telling lies and that I was sure he had just been stung by a regular jellyfish.

(Because, of course, Portuguese Men-of-War would would be native to the coastal waters of Portugal, not Puerto Vallarta.)

My son kept insisting to me, and everyone else, that he was stung by a Portuguese Man-of-War.
The next time that I saw his dad, I made a special point of asking him, in front of our son, about whether the sting was from a Portuguese Man-of-War so that my son would learn that that I will always know when he is not telling the truth.

Turns out he was stung by a Portuguese Man-of-War.

Ever since, my son has been obsessed with jellyfish. He owns jellyfish posters from art.com and has done extensive google research on the topic. And he has been on the lookout for a stuffed (toy) jellyfish. I told him over and over again that we were never going to find a toy jellyfish.

Every toy store, "Mom, lets check to see if they have a jellyfish."
"Oh my goodness. I think you just need to come to the realization that we are never going to find a stuffed jellyfish."

Below, a picture of my son with a stuffed jellyfish.
(Found at the aquarium gift store in Seattle.)


Picking cherries at Pike Place Market.

3 comments:

  1. Isn't is amazing how much our children teach us!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL, you've been served! (As the young people say.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ha! I also would have assumed that Portuguese men of war lived near the Iberian peninsula. Huh.

    If you ever need more jellyfish stuff, I'm certain the Shedd Aquarium here has some. I can totally hook you up if you don't feel like visiting for yourself!

    ReplyDelete