Budding Lawyer

I shlepped little Prince Chatterbox with me to Stop and Shop today (I know, rookie mistake….but he wanted to “help”) and reminded him of our rule when shopping with Ima. You can only ask for ONE thing that costs under $2, so it must be something you really want. (This cuts down on them asking for everything they see).

So he chose a 2 litre 99c bottle of red drink (oy, sugar and water and coloring. Shudder) and said he was ok with that. Next aisle. Chewing gum. 99 cents. He stands still and ponders.

Then asks “Ima, can I have the gum too?”

-Um, mini-dude, you chose the punch drink.

-Yeah, I know, but that’s to share with EVERYONE on Shabbat. It’s really only a quarter mine, and the brothers will be so thrilled I bought something for them. Please may I have the gum? {and he fluttered his eyelashes at this point}

-No. Well, you are being very sweet and manipulative. And you make a good point.  But well, no.

I walked away feeling like I had been so mean – a rule is a rule, though…. And turned back and said to him – “oh ok then, but don’t ask me for anything else. It’s only because you made a logical argument and I am a soft touch”.

He didn’t ask for anything the rest of the time in the store.

Would you have given in?

Consideration – not all it’s cracked up to be

Last night my son had a barmitzvah to attend. This year they have been attending parties and dinners so often the excitement should have worn off – luckily for them, it hasn’t!

I always offer to drive him and his friends to the venue as I like to get to bed on the early side. I don’t want to have to shlepp out at 10 pm to go pick up a bunch of over stimulated thirteen year olds. The other parents are more than willing – we all help each other out.

Even though I like to be in bed early, if one of the boys is not home, I will not go to sleep until everyone is tucked up in bed.

Last night, it was gone 11 and he still wasn’t home, which was highly unusual. I hadn’t heard him come in – they are not so quiet at this age.

I fretted a little bit wondering why he was out so late, and then decided to go check if maybe he came home and we hadn’t heard him.

There was a teenaged size lump in his bed, but I had to rouse it to make sure it was HockeyFan. Ridiculously at 11 at night I though perhaps one of the other boys was sleeping in his bed – they look similar in the dark!! He had crept in sometime earlier, and said he hadn’t wanted to wake us, so he went straight to bed. I am glad our boy is so considerate – but I needed to know he was home! I could have had more sleep.

Do kids of this age need to have a curfew when you know they are at a barmitzvah and with other kids the same age and reliant on parents to get them home? At this age I don’t recall ever being out so late.

Wednesday’s Wacky Signs