Wednesday, December 16, 2009

It Runs In The Family


22 years ago I committed my first felony. I forged my mothers name. I was 7 and in second grade. I don't remember the circumstances leading to a letter from the teacher to my parents, but I was suppose to deliver it. Whatever I had done I didn't want my parents to know about so I hid the note from the teacher and signed my mother's name at the bottom. I took it back to school the next day and gave it to my teacher assuring her my mom had seen it.

Let me just say, my mom has the most beautiful handwriting of anyone I've ever known. I had relatively good handwriting for a 2nd grader. It was neat and legible. Nothing compared to my mom's calligraphic handwriting, though. So, my attempt at signing my mom's fancy handwritten name stuck out like a sore thumb.

I got busted.

Fast forward to yesterday. My oldest daughter is now in second grade. She does well in school, loves to read, has her own circle of friends. . .etc. . .

Yesterday I had a similar experience with Tabytha that my mom had with me so many years ago.
Normally, after Tabytha gets off the school bus she gets a snack, does her homework, gets her chores done and then has the rest of the evening to play, watch a show or two or read.

Sometime after Tabytha had finished her homework and I was in the middle of wrangling one of the little one's, she started writing on a paper. Nothing out of the ordinary. She loves to draw and there's usually some blank paper on the table for when she or John get the urge to draw a picture. So, when I came into the dinning room and Tabytha quickly stood up and put the paper and pen behind her back I knew something was up.

I put my hand out and asked "what are you hiding?". She gives me the pen she was using while her other hand was clenched behind her back. I asked for the paper behind her back and she gives it to me. I look at it and it's the reading calender that the school gives each student. It's a calendar that parents sign off on each day of the week their child reads at home. At the end of the month the calendar is turned in and the child receives a coupon for a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut.

Tabytha had signed my name to the remaining days of December. I won't lie. I was really upset. I gave her 2 swats on the butt with the spanking spoon and told her after her chores were done she was to spend the remainder of the evening in her room. At the dinner table, eating our pizza we talked about what she had done wrong and why it was wrong. It was a good talk. She understood what she had done and why it was wrong and sincerely apologized for it.

I can only hope and pray she learned from this and won't do it again. Heaven knows I didn't learn my lesson and went on to sign my mom and dad's name to lots of stuff when I got into 8th grade.

1 comment:

  1. What goes around comes around huh? I'm in BIG trouble.

    ReplyDelete