Lesson Learned

This weekend an opportunity arose for me to help teach my son a lesson.  We were going to my daughter’s softball practice and he wanted to bring the dog.  There are signs all over the sports complex that explicitly state in no uncertain terms that pets are forbidden, so I explained this to him.  He told me that he read the rules on the sign and it didn’t say anything about pets.  After a couple of times back and forth with “yes it does” and “no it doesn’t” I finally said that I would bet him a dollar.

He agreed to my challenge.  We each got a dollar and put it on the counter.  I explained to him that whoever won the bet would collect both dollar bills.  He agreed.  I gave him a couple of opportunities to back out, but he declined.

When we got to the field I thought to myself that it was time to teach a lesson.  What I didn’t realize was that I would soon learn that I was the one doing the learning.   My son took me to a sign explaining the rules of the field, which included things such as no alcohol and be nice.  However it didn’t say anything about pets.  There are a couple of things that I learned here.  The first is that the Lake Travis Youth Association lacks consistency in their signage. The second is that my son has a good memory (which I knew already.)

The end result is that dogs are not allowed at the park, and I still lost a dollar.  I guess that’s not a bad price to pay for your child to learn that his dad stands by his word.

The Pocketknife

Ethan recently started Cub Scouts.  He is very excited and has really gotten into it.  Last weekend we went to the Scout Store to get his uniform and other goodies.  While we were there he saw a display of pocket knives and I decided to get him one.  It’s a classic Cub Scout knife.  It has a blade, a screwdriver/bottle opener and a leather punch.

Within Cub Scouts there are different levels of progression.  First grade is a ‘Bobcat,’ second grade is ‘Wolf” and third grade is ‘Bear.’  Ethan is in second grade, so he is a Wolf.  As it turns out Cub Scouts are not supposed to use a pocket knife until they are a Bear.  Since I found this out after I had already purchased the knife I decided that he could use the screwdriver part of the knife, but not the blade.  I also told him he could only use it with me.  With those rules in place, we put the knife back in its box, and put the box in his top dresser drawer. Read More »