What do you do when ... ?

What do you do when ... it is 7:20a.m.,

... you are preparing your children's lunches,
... you are attempting to feed your children a nutritious breakfast,
... you are getting ready for work, yourself,
... the cat is whining for food (oh yes, he whines),
... you are making sure all backpacks are packed,
... you are reminding your daughter, as always, that she simply must get dressed,
... your departure time of 7:30 is fast approaching,

and, THIS is the time your son decides to bring up yesterday's incident, in a quavering voice (the quavering voice that signals the coming confession and subsequent justification), in which his book, the book he was looking at (definitely NOT reading, because THAT would have been disrespectful) instead of listening to the math lesson, was taken away from him, and, oh by the way, he needs a note from his parents if he wants the book back today?

This is what you do ...

First, you react to this piece of news with a short-tempered and snappy word of chastisement. Then, you silently strain to remind yourself what a really sweet, sweet boy he is, and you force yourself to bring to mind the tender and unsolicited words of praise and thankfulness for you, his mother, that he bestowed upon your ears just the day before. And, if you are lucky, while you are remembering these things, your husband will calmly take him into the bathroom to fix his hair, during which time they will have a brief conversation about the incident, and when they emerge (your son expertly coiffed), the previously brewing tension and upset will have been dispelled and your sensitive child's heart will have been warmed. You leave for school (on time), and then you smile, because your heart has been warmed, too.