Friday, April 20, 2007

Let him who is without sin...

Gabie came home from playing at a neighbor’s house quite upset. “Ben threw a piece of cinderblock at me!” he sobbed. I checked him over and saw that he was okay. I’m thinking: Good grief. What kind of a 3-year old brute would throw things at my child? He could have been seriously hurt. Gabie was very indignant about the grave injustice that had been done to him. “Ben should get in big trouble for what he did. I think an hour time out should do it. You’d better call his mom and tell her.”

I told Gabie that I wasn’t going to tell Ben’s mom how to discipline her son, but I did promise that I’d talk to her about it. I called and let her know what had happened. She was properly horrified that her son would do such a thing and I hung up the phone and assured Gabie that Ben was in for at least a good tongue lashing if not the hour time-out.

A few minutes later, Ben and his mother showed up at our front door. “Ben wants to apologize,” she said. I called Gabie over and he stood there looking injured while Ben said “I’m Tah-ree.” His mother added, “We just don’t do things like that Ben. Why in the world would you throw a cinderblock at Gabie?” Ben replied, “Cause he trew a rock at me first.”

Now I’m thinking: I’m a reasonably intelligent mother. Why in the name of all that is holy didn’t I take the time to ask for the WHOLE story before calling my neighbor? Mortified and grasping at straws I wonder if maybe Gabie was provoked. Perhaps it was self-defense. “Gabriel,” I ask hopefully, “Why did you throw a rock at Ben?” With no hesitation, Gabie says, “I had to do it mom. He was acting really annoying.”

Oh crap. Now I’m going to have to move.

19 comments:

Heth said...

Hahahaha!

Crissybug said...

Goodness! Thanks for the laugh! I probably would have done the same thing!

Shalee said...

Oh, I've suffered from the "Why didn't I find out all the details?!" condition time and time again. You'd think I'd have learned by now... Sometimes I do actually ask before talking with the other parents. Whew, is all I can say. I know I saved myself some embarrassment!

Say, I know a great place you could move, and I promise to blame my kid as much as yours...

Unknown said...

This just made me laugh out loud. Really loud! What a story. If it makes you feel any better, Ben probably wouldn't have minded if his mother had gotten a few more details before hauling him over to apologize.

I do have a friend who makes a point of ALWAYS asking, "What happened before that?" when a kid comes up to tell on someone.

Allysha said...

move out here!!!!

That's really a great story.

An Ordinary Mom said...

A lesson for all of us to learn :) !!

You can still come visit on April 28th if you need to escape the glares of your 3 year old neighbor and his mom!

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

Good grief...I feel soooo bad for laughing out loud when I know just how mortifying that could be!

TARA said...

It's nice to know that your ever so brilliant kids are still, well....kids!

Love that Gabie!

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah. Love those moments.

My daughter is best friends with one of my best friend's daughters. Only you know tween girls. Sometimes that means they are worst enemies.

It makes my life (and my friendship with this particular friend) quite interesting.

Luisa Perkins said...

We have been there. Mortifying. You have my empathy!

Amy said...

I literally laughed out loud reading that... thanks, I needed a good laugh today. My kids aren't quite old enough to be playing with the neighbors yet, but I'll make a mental note about getting the whole story. :)

eve said...

They say the Northwest is nice this time of year! Wink.

Kelly @ Love Well said...

I've experienced this with my own children. I've learned to ask my five-year-old daughter carefully, "Well, why did Connor smack you on the head?" before I dish out Due Justice to the hitee. Because Natalie might just reply, "Maybe because I hit him first? Because's he's really bugging me, Mom!"

Great story.

Bill C said...

Ben's mom should have jumped in with some kind of "That's no excuse" speech. I say you blame her for leaving you stuck between a rock and a--

*ahem*

Sorry.

Anonymous said...

I'm sitting in my office laughing to myself like an idiot. That's a great story...

Jenna said...

That has actually happened to me before too! Chin up, her kid will be the one on the blacklist before long and everyone will forget about yours. Why do kids humiliate us so?

Karen Hossink said...

Julie, you always make me laugh.
I know you've already received it, but I wanted to tell you I nominated you again for the thinking blogger award in my post "I'm So Excited."
I really do love the way you write!

Dedee said...

So funny, only because it has happened to me. How do our children do that!?!

talitha said...

Great post! I tagged you for a thinking bloggers award over at my blog, go have a look!