Freud may have been onto something.

According to some interpretations of his theories, everything wrong in one's life goes back to one person: the mother.

No mother, let alone this one, is immune.

At around 2:30 a.m., I was stirred from sleep by my upset child.

"Why didn't you wake me?" he asked.

He had missed his favorite show - Dragon Ball Super - earlier that evening. He had been so upset but said it would replay later at 11:30.

"You will be asleep," I had said.

"I will get up at 11:30 and watch it and go back to bed," he had said.

"That's silly; you don't want to wake up just to watch a show."

He insisted he did and he would.

But a few hours later, he was sound asleep, and the alarm didn't even disturb him in the least.
I turned it off and nudged him. "Cole, did you want to get up?"

Not a peep. Not a sound. Just deep, peaceful slumber.

Hours later at 2:30 in the middle of the night, it wasn't the alarm that woke my child but a subconscious knowing he had missed his favorite show.

And it was my fault.

"Why didn't you get me up, Mama? You know I wanted to get up," he said.

I tried to explain but he was too upset to listen.

"I missed it, I missed it. I just have to stop watching it."

Surely it would come on again, I thought. I know I have seen reruns of some of his cartoons several times. But he insisted this one was different.

"I'm just too upset to even go back to sleep," he said, sitting on the couch. I tried to stay up with him but I fell asleep before he did.

The next morning, he was still upset.

"I have lost my reputation of being a Dragon Ball Super-fan," he declared.

"Your reputation?"

He sighed. "Yes, Mama. When you are a nerd like I am, your reputation is everything. When I tell people that I have never missed an episode, they are amazed. I can't say I am a super fan anymore."

"Cole, can you think of any other grown woman who still has a fan girl crush on anyone like I do Keanu Reeves? I haven't seen all of his movies and there's been a few that I would rather forget. I still don't understand The Lake House. But that doesn't make me less a fan."

Another sigh. "This is not the same thing, Mama. You should have woken me up."

"So, it's my fault?" I asked.

I didn't have to ask.

I should have known. Anytime someone loses their street cred or something goes wrong, it all falls on Mama.

Cole frowned. "You could have tried harder to get me up. That's all I am saying."

I had a minute of feeling guilty and then I remembered - I am the parent here.

Didn't make it hurt any less though.

"I don't think you are being very fair," I said. "And, I am not going to apologize for not getting you up to watch a cartoon."

"It's anime," he corrected.

"That's just a fancy name for a cartoon," I said.

I had tried to wake him but instead of doing what he wanted, I opted for the parentally uncool thing of letting him get much needed rest.

I was trying to do the best thing for him, not knowing how much it would upset him or the detrimental effect it would have on his reputation.

So what does a mother do when she knows she messed up - even when it was in the best interests of her child? She figures out how to make it up to them.

"What if you did get to see the episode?" I asked.

"You can't," Cole answered.

"Surely there is an app somewhere," I said. "If you saw it, would that help you keep your reputation?"

He considered this deeply, unsure. He is very much a stickler for the rules and if Cole thought he should have watched the episode when it aired originally, he may not find this acceptable.

"Maybe," he said, his tone guarded. "But you can't watch it online."

"Of course, you can," I said. "There's gotta be a way."

And, there was - right there on the channel's website. Why would they rerun them on precious air time when they could replay them online?

"Thank you for finding this for me," he said, his arms circling my shoulders for a hug. "This is perfect."

The day had started in the middle of the night, with his reputation as a huge Dragon Ball Super fan being in jeopardy and it was all my fault. Somehow, I managed to figure something out.

Maybe moms get to save the day more than we're given credit for after all.

Sudie Crouch is an award winning humor columnist and author of the novel, "The Dahlman Files: A Tony Dahlman Paranormal Mystery."