‘Cause Mama Said

I was elbow deep in dinner prep when all three girls came to stand at my side and poke their hands into what I was working on. Tired from constant attention all day long, I asked the girls to please go play for another two minutes. Just as I made my request, my middle daughter reached for a hot casserole pan with her bare hands.

Quickly, I moved her hands back and told her, “Do not touch that pan. It is hot. Now please go upstairs.”

My middle daughter asked, “Why?”

Too tired, I answered, “Because I told you so.”

There was a moment of silence. And then my eldest chirped in from behind my elbow, “What is ‘I told you so?’”

Sigh.