I Don't Understand

Every parent knows at some point they will have to teach their kids not to lie. At some point in their young lives, all kids will try to tell mom and dad a "story." In most of the cases, it will be to hide something they have done so they won't get into trouble or so they can get a reward they didn't earn.

Elizabeth is no different. Melissa and I've noticed over the past six months that Elizabeth has greatly increased the use of her imagination and she has been telling us some great tales. We've heard about trips to New York City and Canada. We've heard all kinds of tall tales that are obviously the development of a 4-year-old girl.

This evening we had a new experience. Instead of telling us a lie to hide something she did, Elizabeth chose to make up a story about getting in trouble at school.

On the way home from grandma's house, I asked Elizabeth if she was good at school today and she told me "no." She even acted like she was sorry for getting in trouble. In her class, if a student is bad, the teacher makes them move their name from the green light to the yellow light and if they continue being bad, they move to the red light. Earlier this week at parents' night, her teacher told us if a student was moved to the red light, the teacher would call us and have the student tells us what they had done to get into trouble. The same applied to students sent to the principal's office. Again, a phone call would be made to the parents.

After Elizabeth told me she wasn't good, I asked if she had been told to move her name to the yellow light. She said yes. She told me she had told another student to shut up. She continued the story by saying she was sent to the principal's office. This didn't quite fit with what the teacher had told me at parents' night, but maybe I had misunderstood. I asked for the principal's name and she said Mrs. Howard. The principal is actually Mr. Haggard so this didn't quite fit, but it was close. Elizabeth continued by telling me she did not get a sticker from the teacher at the end of the day like all the good kids did. She even asked if I thought she could get a sticker tomorrow if she was good.

When we got home, I had Elizabeth go tell her mother that she had been in trouble in school. Elizabeth repeated the story and we really began to question whether she was telling us the truth. We knew if she had been sent to the principal's office they would have called us and when we asked her about that, Elizabeth said they called grandma.

That left us little choice but to call grandma and ask. While we waited on grandma to call us back, we finally got Elizabeth to admit she had made up the whole story. Not only did she NOT get in trouble today, she got another sticker for being good.

We were preparing to punish Elizabeth for getting in trouble at school and we discovered she wasn't bad at school, but now we were dealing with her lying to us at home. If we let her go on lying to us - even if it is just a made up story - when would we know what was true and what wasn't.

At the end of the night, Elizabeth was sent to bed early tonight with no TV for lying to mom and dad. Ironically, that is probably the same punishment she would get for being bad at school.

Melissa and I talked about it after Elizabeth was finally asleep, and we both agreed we just don't understand why she risk getting in trouble with a made up story about getting in trouble. Again, I don't understand.

Just because you can...

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it.

Nothing earth-shattering in that statement, but it strikes me that many people and organizations simply can't get this thought through their heads.

There has been a great deal of debate and discussion about whether or not a mosque should be built near Ground Zero in New York City. While emotions on the subject run high, if you can put that aside for a few minutes there are a couple of items most rationale people won't argue with.

Our country was founded on the premise of religious freedom. We wanted to be free from a government who told us what our religion should be and what we should believe. This was so important it is included in the Bill of Rights. So when we begin to discuss the prospect of building a mosque near Ground Zero, for the government to say "no" would be contrary to everything this country was built on.

Having said that, I would hope the leadership of the mosque would understand the hard feelings building a mosque this close to a sacred site may create and will look for an alternative location. I completely understand the desire to share and to educate the overwhelming majority of our country about Muslims, but I think there may be a better way to fulfill that desire.

However, if the supporters of mosque insist on this specific site, I'm not going to tell them "no." If the rationale for saying no is they represent a faith or religion that has no tolerance for our Western ways, what have we demonstrated to them if we act in exactly the way we accuse them of acting.

Sometimes just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

Disappointed in your family? Try Rent-a-Family!

Have you ever gone to an important function - wedding, funeral, graduation, promotion, or whatever - and thought to yourself that sometimes your family just doesn't measure up like you had hoped? Have I got an answer for you!! It's Rent-A-Family.

During a recent funeral for a very close family friend, I looked at the church pews in front of me and saw my brothers, both by blood and by friendship, and their wives and thought "Wow, this is an impressive group."

There were seven "brothers" and five wives. All the brothers were decked out in dark suits, white shirts and ties. The wives were in black dresses and pearls. In a world where coats and ties have been replaced by jeans and tee shirts, seeing pews full of people who knew how to dress was a rare pleasure.

The group included a couple of doctors, two CPA's, a magazine publisher and editor, a classroom teacher, an association executive, and a very successful regional sales manager - and that's not the entire group.

After the funeral, we had a reception for the friends and family and several people commented how nice it was to see the "family" all decked out and paying their respects. Some even asked if we would hire out for their funeral since they weren't sure their family measured up.

The more we talked about it - and the more we drank - the funnier the idea became. And we began to add to the Rent-A-Family offerings.

If you're planning a wedding and need an impressive family, call us and we'll be there. We promise starched white shirts, neckties, and dark suits on the men and gorgeous black dresses and pearls on the women. Need to impress the perspective in-laws? We've got doctors, CPA's, executives, editors, and sales people galor.

Want us to travel? We love to travel and if you give us enough notice, we'll be happy to bring our "family" to impress your family-to-be.

We do have one warning for you. While we are willing to travel, due the success of our "family" members and the jobs we are currently holding, we need time to plan a trip. The less planning time you allow, the more the "Family" will cost.

If you're wanting to impress and worried that you just don't have it in your gene pool, give us a call and we'll do our part to make you look good.

My Apologies

When I talked myself into starting this blog I told myself I would do everything in my power to get at least one new post up per week. At times I have made that goal very easily and others I have missed it by a mile. This is one of the missed it times.

After a long family vacation interupted by a funeral, I'm back with what I hope is a more regular schedule.

Please accept my apologies and stay with me. I've got a few items to share over the next week or so.