Assumptions

I'm feeling a little sheepish tonight. You all know the saying about what happens when you assume. . . well, I did that today. Seems I heard a terrible put-down coming from the football field of our backyard today. Not being one to put up with either of my sons being insulted, I wearily rose from my chair and headed outside to give the offending son a time out. I called his name, sent him to his room, silenced all protests (which were loud) and solved the problem. I then gave the other son a great pep-talk about how great he is and that he should believe the best about himself and that he doesn't have to stand there and take it when someone is insulting him. It was a great pep talk.

About 10 minutes later when I finally went inside to do business with the offending son, I decided to be a great parent and keep my lecture short. "Son, you may not say words like 'horrible' when you're talking about the way your brother throws the football. We're going to talk kind to each other and put downs are not encouraging."

He then said, "Can I talk now?" And proceeded to explain that what I overheard from inside was not him saying his brother had made a horrible pass, but that the pass he had just thrown was horrible. As in "I just made a horrible throw."

Oh bother, why does being a parent have to include humble pie?! I verified with the offended son that he was not actually offended at all - just confused as to why Mom stopped the football game only to lecture him for 10 minutes about how great he was. I returned to the timeout bedroom to apologize and ask forgiveness. . . it seems life is a series of wins and losses - but I suppose if you love one another, it can be a win-win.