ugh....consequences

last night the family went to watch one of the boys in the youth group play basketball. 7th grade basketball to be exact. not terribly riveting, but something we can do as a family and it supports one of the youth group kiddos.

being middle school boys, and both very small schools, it wasnt terribly crowded, so colby and mojo were able to walk the stands and keep themselves pretty well entertained.

i looked over at colby at one point and he was laying on his stomach next to allen,very quiet and very still. i assumed he was tired and really didnt think much about it.

when we got up to leave i looked down at where colby had been and say a bright red crayon drawing on the bleacher seat!! i almost didnt say anything because it was actually a really good drawing; good enough that ididnt think colby had done it.

but just to be sure

me: colby did you do that?

colby: (deer in headlights look; totally, undoubtedly busted)

allen: colby did you do that?

colby: (puts his hands up, as if to say 'i surrender', but kind of shakes his head no. verdict:still undetermined)

me: colby...?

colby: (nods head)

allen: lets go. we're not gonna deal with it here.

walking to the car a few minutes later

allen: colby, why did you do that? you destroyed property.

colby: i dont know.

allen: we're going to call the school tomorrow and tell tham what you did and you're going to have to come up here and apologize. and if they want you to clean it you're going to clean it.

colby: (nods head)

me: (aside to allen) i totally know he shouldnt have done it, but is it bad that i kind of want to compliment him on his drawing? that was really good!

we went to dinner, and talked a little more about it. allen addressed the fact that colbys first instinct had been to lie and when we got home he would get a swat as a consequence for lying (which he did), but that he still had to pay the consequence for his actions and that would be determined by the principal.

allen called the school this morning and spoke with the vice principal (the chief was out of the office today), and told him what happened.

allen said he seemed shocked that we would even bother to make the effort, but said he would be more than willing to speak to colby and let him clean it up.

when they got to the school, colby apologized to the v.p. and asked his forgiveness. he was very kind and told colby that he forgave him, and explained why it was so important that it get cleaned up. they have a game there tonight, and if some oter kid sees thedrawing, they'll think its ok if they draw on it too, etc.

it made sense to colby and the walked down to the gym, met the janitor, who colby also apologized to, and cleaned up the crayon.

it was a great learning experience for all of us.

i'm thankful the school allowed us to use the opportunity to use that as a teaching moment fr our little guy.

...and i did ask allen to take my camera and take a few pictures if he could do it without it being inappropriate. gotta keep the threesixfive in mind. :-)

the drawing


the offending crayon (someone had left it there in the bleachers. fail.)

colby and mr garza, the vice principal

after colby cleaned up the drawing, they went back to mr garzas office and he got to try on one of the football helmets. bonus.