A Fairy Tale about a Mother's Embarrassment and Guilt

Once upon a time, a mother received a phone call from her teenage son who was at school. An incident had occurred involving the son, and the boy's teacher felt that she needed to know about it. While talking with her son, the mother's first reaction was embarrassment, as though she were the one guilty because her son had done this. After talking with her son for a few minutes, it soon became evident that he was also embarrassed, and that it had been an accident, albeit one that could have been prevented with a few simple precautions.  Rather than yelling or making a big deal about it, she calmly discussed with her son what needed to be done to remedy the situation, and whether or not it was ever likely to happen again, and both mother and son went on with their day.

Later, the mother wondered why she had felt embarrassed. Why had she felt guilty? Had she taught her son about this? Yes. Had the son known better? Yes. Was there anything at all that she could have done more to prevent this situation? She didn't think so. At this point she realized that she didn't need to feel embarrassed. She wasn't guilty. At this point, the responsibility for this incident was squarely on her son. He was old enough to know better. He was not a puppet dangling from strings she controlled; he had agency to make choices and act for himself. She didn't need to feel embarrassed or guilty in the slightest. And so she let it go and didn't worry about it anymore and lived happily ever after.

The End.