A Rough Morning of Learning the Hard Lessons

I had all sorts of fun things planned with the kids this morning. They involved good times like the library and free samples at Costco. Then, as will happen from time to time, all of it had to be cancelled because of one bad choice.

Before I get too far into the story I should explain that Grandma Glenda has a little hair salon attached to the back of her house, and two of her grandsons live there. While M was getting her hair cut yesterday my boys were allowed to play in the rooms of the grandsons, who are several years older. All seemed well...until this morning.

J came in and slyly pointed something out to B, who gave him a conspiratorial look. My SuperMom sense of danger immediately went off. J and I immediately started playing, "Tell Me What's In Your Pocket - No I Don't Want to Get In Trouble." Know that game?

In my head I was expecting a forbidden piece of candy or something belonging to their older sister. Imagine my surprise when he pulled out a pocket knife. My mind went immediately to the day before and his chattering about how cool it is ______ got to have a pocket knife.

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"At the park," J said.

"Are you sure it isn't ____'s?" I asked.

"No Mom, it isn't," he said.

So I pulled out the super-sneaky-get-results-quick card. "So if we went over to _____'s house right now and I showed him this pocket knife he wouldn't say it was his?"

Oh the tears, the blaming on little brother, the finding out a Batman toy had also made it's way into our house. We immediately packed everyone into the car and took the two minute drive back to the scene of the crime. By this time I could see the thought of fessing up to the person he stole from had J really scared.

We knocked on the door, handed over the pilfered items, apologized, and headed back out. By this time J was almost hysterical. He grasped my hand tightly with both of his and I knew I needed to stop and talk before we even got to the car.

I asked him how he felt right then. "Really bad," he whispered. So the two of us talked about not making a bad choice even if your brother or best friend is telling you to. We talked about not stealing, and not lying to me about it. We talked about remembering how he felt at that moment, and that if he ever feels tempted to steal again that he should remember how he felt at that moment and decide if he wants to feel like that again. Hopefully B listened hard enough and learned a few lessons himself.

They've just spent an hour in their room, and won't be allowed any privileges today. We'll see how long this lesson lasts. Hopefully it's one that will stick.