My four-year-old was sitting with my husband on the couch when he dropped something hard (most likely our remote control) onto the head of his unsuspecting little brother. The moment it left his little hands, he looked at my husband and said “I didn’t do it”.

Naturally, my husband then decided to spend the next few minutes trying to unsuccessfully explain to our son that he DID in fact “do it”.

I’m sure it’s just a phase, right?! And I imagine there are countless books on this subject which will provide point by point logic with graphs and images to explain to me why a child of four would decide to no longer “own” his/her actions and then give clueless parents (like me) the ammunition and skills necessary to calmly address the issue and thereby rear well-mannered future leaders. But honestly, I can’t find the time or let’s face it, energy, to research, buy and read the wealth of information available.

I’m not exactly sure where that leaves me, but I’m just being honest here. As an aside: I strongly believe that teachers should get paid more – because they are left in the wake of parenting “choices”.

Don’t get me wrong, mistakes and accidents happen to us all (to some more than most…ahem, guilty as charged). There are some days when the coffee isn’t helping (even when it’s my third cup) and I feel as if I’m a walking zombie. And even though I may WANT to point my finger (or quickly leave a room) so that the attention is directed AWAY from me, I realize that I need to ‘own’ my mistake and move on.

For instance, I recently purchased a card for my hubby, in celebration of our 7th wedding anniversary. I’ll admit that I purchased the card last minute and although it’s no excuse, I LITERALLY slept maybe 30 minutes the night before (probably because I lay awake all night, realizing that I’d forgotten to buy said card). Nonetheless, I walked up to the store’s card display and scanned the selection in the “humor” section. He and I are both fans of the show “The Office”, so when I saw a card depicting “The Office” images and Michael Scott humor I thought “Great, he’ll like this one”.

I walked up to the counter, made the purchase and put it out of my mind for the remainder of the day. As I drove home that evening from work, pleased that I had a funny card with my personal, sentimental and heartfelt message, I was relieved….that is until my husband opened the card and said…

“You realize it’s not my Birthday, right?” As I turned to him, it dawned on me that I had purchased a BIRTHDAY card, not an Anniversary card! Arrrggghhh!

And in the world of new media, I then realized a few hours later that he felt compelled to thank me for my kind card and gift publicly, on FaceBook. I tried to play it off with a reply to his post, in the hopes that people would be left wondering…. “Did she REALLY buy the wrong card?” Or “Oh, that Kevin….he’s so silly!” – But isn’t that just the same as trying to say “I didn’t do it!”?

So my only promise is that I’ll TRY to plan better next year and NOT wait to the last minute to make a card purchase….that, OR I’ll run out at lunch today and purchase a selection of cards for EVERY possible event that can happen in the next 12 months, so that I leave it less to chance. And maybe while I’m at the store, I’ll peruse the self-help book aisle and look for titles that will help me be a more conscientious parent.

Amy Trapp the mom of two boys and the creator of TriSupporter, a blog where she writes about her family and faith. She’s also on Twitter @AmydTrapp.