I Embarrassed My Son On WiiU Chat

I walked into Tommy's room clad in my Happy Bunny pajamas. Messy hair. No bra because hello, it was night time. I said, "Make sure you put your underwear in the laundry basket this time," because he was about to take his shower. He has a habit of leaving them on the bathroom floor. I don't like touching boy underpants. If I must do it, I have to scoop them up with a t-shirt or something. I'm not putting my bare hands on boy underpants.

"MOM!" Tommy shouted, horrified.

A foreign face stared back at me from the black Wii U console. I assumed Tommy was watching YouTube videos again. But then the foreign face BLINKED. Well, his eyes, I mean. I screeched, grabbed Tommy's pillow, and held it against my chest. Not that my boobs were, you know, OUT or anything. But because, well, a strange kid was watching me and...it just felt weird.

"I'm CHATTING," Tommy said impatiently. "I told you I figured out how to chat and was going to, remember?"

Huh?

Oh. Right. He did come downstairs to tell me something. I was reading. And Tommy was prattling on about some new feature and I was...reading. I mean, if he were discussing something IMPORTANT I would have put my book down. But he was yakking about his WiiU again. He's obsessed with his video games and there's only so much I can take. So I kept reading and was going, "Uh huh," at what I thought were appropriate moments.

And now I had traumatized a strange boy who was watching me with wide eyes. I didn't want to get the kid in trouble. Suppose his parents came in to check on him and they saw me? Clad in my happy bunny PJs. Scary hair. No bra. Then his mother would go, "See? THAT'S who you must avoid online. These type of people are SICK!"

"I'll just....er...go," I said awkwardly. "I'll just..." I tripped over Tommy's Lego airplane. Pieces flew all over the place. I fell over and the poor boy's screen was filled with my Happy Bunny ass. Crap, crap, crap. "I'm sorry. I'll..." I began scooping up pieces.

"Mom! I got it! Could you go? We're talking about our Animal Crossing towns." Tommy scowled at me as I crawled around on his bedroom floor.

"Of course!" I jumped up and my knee cracked. Ouch. Dammit. "Have fun. But remember to--" I snapped my mouth shut just in time. I was about to remind him about the underwear again.

I'm glad Tommy is talking to people. He doesn't talk much at school. He doesn't have friends. He keeps to himself. This is mainly because he's socially awkward. He doesn't know what to say to his peers. He'll talk their ear off about video games but he doesn't comprehend that they like to talk about OTHER things too. With the WiiU, he's surrounded by video game enthusiasts.

Don't worry, I will monitor it. I'm not one of those parents who allow their kids to shut themselves in their rooms, much to Tommy's chagrin. I constantly pop in.

At least now he'll socialize with kids his own age.

But note to self? Stop at his door and check to see if he's chatting next time.

I promise I won't traumatize another child. (And sorry if that kid was yours. If he talks about a weird lady in Happy Bunny pajamas talking about underwear, hi, that was me. Sorry again.)