Earning My Stripes

So yesterday, my baby comes home from school all excited. When I asked her what all the commotion was about, she told me she was going to see Justin Bieber. Imagine my surprise: "Oh, you are huh?" LOL My son was low-key encouraging me to just tell her she cant go, recalling his days of being nine, coming home with some big plan and me telling him he aint going nowhere with people I aint met. But this was different. This was Justin Bieber. How could I just flat out tell her no, when he's her new age Michael Jackson? I couldn't bring myself to do it, but after hearing the backstory to events that occurred in school, I didnt have to. I already knew she wasnt going anywhere.

"My friend at school has ten tickets to the Justin Bieber concert and she said we could go." Ten tickets? What parent buys ten tickets to a concert? Who spends that kinda bread to take out nine kids they dont even know, and how the hell they all supposed to get there? She changed her clothes, put her little wallet and lip gloss in her pocket and starting calling back and forth with one of her friends, whose mom I had actually met. Seven or eight phone calls later, it was apparent that neither one of them had any clue what was going on and the ticket girl hadn't even called. When my baby finally did talk to her, she was at her grandmother's house a few streets over from us, talking about can my baby walk over there. Hell no LOL. She wanna take you to a concert, she needs to come pick you up. My baby tells the little girl what I said, and the little girls says she was gonna see if someone could come get her.

*staring into the camera*

Yeah, ok. My baby spent the next half hour standing out on the balcony, looking for some random car to pull up and beckon her out. My son keeps shooting sympathetic looks in my direction, understanding the plight of a mom, having to deal with a little girl's heartbreak, and trying hard not to be the source of it. Then it dawned on me: this is Justin Bieber we're talking about. If there is a concert tonight, why havent I heard about it? I was already online, so I went ahead and started searching out this phantom concert and couldnt find anything at all about it. I went to Ticketmaster and every site I could find that boasted JB tour dates, and there was nothing. It was time to start the damage control and hopefully minimize the impact of this hard reality my baby was about to face.

She had told me earlier that the little girl had a ticket in her bookbag and had nine more at home. I called her into my bedroom and asked her if she had actually seen the ticket. She said no. I figured. I asked how she knew there really was a ticket in the bag if she never it. Her response was, "...because she said 'real talk'."

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! COME ON SON!

I told her that I dont think there ever was a ticket in the little girl's bookbag, and that I had looked all over the web for a Bieber concert in the city tonight and there was none to be found. She heard me, but she wasnt ready to let go of the dream. Another fifteen minutes out on the balcony, watching random cars drive past our house. I stepped into the living room and my son's eyes met mine again. He just shook his head. I walked up behind my baby and leaned on the balcony next to her. "I dont think anybody's coming, Mom," she said. "I dont think anybody's coming either, baby."

My phone rang and I went to answer it, garnering parental compassion from my boyfriend on the other end. He listened as I called my son into the room and asked him to go to the store for me and maybe take his little sister with him. He smiled and nodded, "Sure Mom."

A little while later, they returned from the store and my baby kneeled by my bed, resting her head on my thigh. "Im sad, Mom." "I know, baby. I know." I rubbed her head and kissed her on the forehead, then lifted her face. I told her that little kids sometimes tell stories because they want people to like them, and that no matter what everyone else does in school on Monday, and no matter how anyone else treats this little girl, she is not to be mean to her. She said she understood, hugged me, and went into the living room to watch the movie I had just let her buy. My son smiled at me, giving me the feeling that he was impressed - maybe even proud - and then followed her into the other room. Ten minutes later, laughter flooded the house, and just like that, the crisis was over.

Dealing with kids and their feelings is hard. As a parent, you want to shield them from as much heartache and heartbreak as you can, knowing that now and then, one's gonna beat you, and hoping every time that this isnt it. But wise parents also know that some lessons should be allowed to be learned early, and I thought yesterday was one of those times. I could have just told her she couldnt go, and waited for her being mad at me to blow over, but the nature of people and disappointment are things we spend our whole lives dealing with. Better she start learning that now. Besides, why should I be the bad guy? I wasnt the one lied LOL....