Monday, January 26, 2009

In the woods with the boys

The rear of our property connects into some woods and continues on to the right for a ways. My boys have a lot of fun playing war with their air soft guns and building forts. We have teepees, one fort is made with a carpet piece nailed to a few trees, one is a hole in the ground with a kiddie picnic table to one side weighting down a few cardboard pieces that are laid across the top of the dug out hole. It is really cool and I wish I had my camera with me when I went exploring with the kids today. Why was I out in the woods? I was talking to the kids about moving to Germany. No, we are not moving but I continuously tell my husband to apply because I would go TOMORROW. Well, I was telling them they put beer in the baby bottles in Germany and how everyone drinks. My 9 year old said, "Oh, we found a whole trunk of beer in the woods." Thanks for running to Mommy when you found it instead of me having to tell the really out of normal beer story! So, I started questioning him, trying not to show him that I was freaking out that he has been with beer in the woods. How to you question him in a casual tone so you don't scare him into going silent? I asked him if they were opened- No. I asked him to show me and so I had to go on a beer hunt (bear hunt- beer hunt, get it?) That is where I got to see their little fantasy world. We found the trunk and the boys had taken the beers and thrown them in all directions. So, we gathered all the ones that were not leaking or empty. I brought them back so that the teens that put them there or the kids that play there do not drink them.
I asked my nine year old if he tried any. His reply, "No, Maam." with an ear to ear grin. I continue to question him and continue to get a no but he can not wipe that silly grin off his face. I would like to believe him but that big grin and history with lying until death has me wondering. I am caught: whether to push for any truth or let him see that I am not going to overreact. I hope all my kids know there is nothing they can do to make me turn my back on them. I will probably overreact many times. But, at the end of the day I will stick by them and fight for them. I will let them receive consequenses but be there to walk with them through them. I guess I will just pray for him to feel quilty if he is and other than that show him my confidence in him. It would be easier if he would just quit grinning!

2 comments:

Valarie Lea said...

Oh my gosh can you imagine how nasty that beer was! I mean going from cold to warm to cold to warm!

Maybe he didn't try it, but if he did, maybe he thought it was really gross, and will never touch the stuff again. :)

Tami said...

You know what? That is the exact way I tried beer for the first time. I was 9 years old and we had to get off the bus a mile from home and walk the rest of the way because the bus wouldn't take us all the way. We found a 6 pack in a ditch and we all tasted it. We thought it was gross then but unfortunately that didn't stop me when I was in college. I probably wouldn't push him on it just because if you make a big deal about it he might then do it again. If you don't then he'll let it go too. Because it probably was very gross to him.