Have you ever wondered if anyone else feels some of those unspoken thoughts that leave you steeped in regret and shame? 

Have you ever thought of something you wanted to say and then quickly quashed it into a distant corner of your mind where all dark secrets lurk?

Have you ever wondered if anyone else feels some of those unspoken thoughts that leave you steeped in regret and shame?

Well, it’s about time we lay some of those sentiments on the table in the name of validation.

But, for the record, let’s just keep this between you and me.

To the preschoolers in your carpool:  Can you please, please just walk straight out of the car and directly to your door instead of insisting on finishing your long-winded description of the pizza, fries, and Slurpee your mother delivers promptly at lunchtime every Rosh Chodesh?

And really, there’s no need to keep looking back every four steps and then practicing walking backward up your front stairs.  Book it, kiddo, I have another carpool to run to.

To your son’s rebbi:  Unless you are providing a tank, fish toys, and fish food, please, please, please don’t send my son home with goldfish in containers big enough to hold one fin.  (Three days before Pesach.)

To your kids who are not yet teenagers:  Really, there is no need to notify us that you wake up at the crack of dawn.  On Shabbos morning.  There’s no need to fiddle with our doorknob for half an hour, knock on our door to the beat of “Mashiach,” or even to don your clonking Shabbos shoes and march back and forth outside our bedroom door as you wait patiently for us to wake up.

Instead, please just go in a single-file line directly to the basement, where all sorts of games and toys have been fastidiously prepared for you, and shut the door firmly behind you for the next two hours until Abba leaves to shul.

To your teenager:  No.