The Old Woman And The Shoes

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children she didn't know what to do.......

OK, I forgot the rest of the story. Does anyone know what happened to her? Here is my verson of it:

As a full-time working mother of five kids, I often feel like I've given birth one too many times. The problem is that I don't know which one it is. It seems to change periodically. I've discovered that I can only pay attention to four of them at a time, and sometimes I think they are conspiring against me. Not in a "me being paranoid" kind of way but in a "how bad can we be without mom finding out" kind of way.

One morning while I was trying to get the kids out the door for school, I noticed that Natalie, my oldest daughter, was wearing flip-flops with her school uniform. I promptly told her to go back to her room and find a different pair of shoes, reminding her that school policy did not allow open-toed shoes. As the other children kept me distracted, we all finally made it out to the car. Natalie arrived last, complaining that she had to change her shoes. After some back-and-forth banter on the subject, she informed me that she didn't understand why I was making such a big deal about her shoes. After all, she had worn flip-flops to school several times last week and no-one said anithing to her about it.

Thats when I realized I can only pay attention to four of my children at any given time. There will probably always be one out there flying free in the wind. I just hope at least one of them will still love me when they are grown.