It is a well-established fact that if you forget something on behalf of your child, they will never forget it. And by never, I do not mean the metaphorical never wherein they remember for a a couple of days and then it has left their little psyche.

No, I mean NEVER. This is true even if it only happened one time. In fact, it will be immortalized in six little words…

“But there was that one time.”

That one time will haunt you eternally. You can explain that you do x or y every single day with a consistency that would make OCD look sporadic and yet they will remember the one time you did not.

“Remember that one time, Mommy?”

“There was that one time, Mommy.”

“You did forget once, you know, Mommy?”

Elephantine in this specific memory, these arguments can appear years later. (They can even arise from a different sibling than the one to whom such a crime was committed. In fact, second-hand “one time”s can carry far more virulence in the argument as the sibling has undoubtedly expanded the pain, harm, and destruction caused by the offense in the retelling!)

This is all despite the fact that they can forget an instruction given within the last thirty seconds. Instructions made with eye contact, repetition, and follow-up inquiry. You may have asked them to brush their teeth ten times in the same number of minutes, but they will look at you as if this is new information.

Should, however, the subject come up, they can recall with crystal-clear accuracy that “one time” when you included yogurt in your son’s lunch and broccoli in your daughter’s.This is clearly a sin of such epic proportions that it will surely by immortalized by Bob and Larry for Veggie Tales. Bob will read the letter and Larry will start the episode with “But there was that one time…” Six words that cut through years of proper care, lunch successes, happy trips to the park or any other notch in your parenting "Win" column.

Six words that send a mom’s brain googling for any other way to say that yes, she remembers and she as never forgotten since. Six words that make me want to throw my hands up in the air and give up. “Yes, baby. I remember that one time…” I wrote this as a part of a short story project for school.  I chose to write about a blogging mom... I wonder where I got the inspiration?!?!