Rantings and Ravings

By Sun Advocate

Personal responsibility is such an elusive thing to try and teach. For us, this week, it was all about shoes.
It started on Monday when our seven year old came home and peeled her school shoes off in the middle of the hall. I found them a bit later and ask her to come get them and put them away.
After ignoring me on the first request, I threatened to put them in “jail.” Jail is the place where items go that are taken away from them for a while when they don’t pick them up.
“I don’t care” she shouted. “I’m busy!”
She was watching TV.
So away they went.
The following morning she came out dressed for school. She plans every outfit with care, color coordinating everything.
“I need my brown shoes,” she stated.
“Sorry not until Friday.”
So she snuck in and got them.
I told her she needed to take them off and she refused. Finally I told her I would throw them away permanently or she could take them off until Friday.
She knew she was defeated and went in and changed the whole outfit and almost missed the bus..
After she left, the four year old went looking for her pink flip flops.
“I know you took them,” she ranted.
“Sorry I have no idea where they are.” I replied.
So then she found one by the couch in the sun room. But now she was really riled up. She went from blaming me to blaming her sister to blaming the dog.
I was trying to write an article for the paper as the mighty midget with one pink flip flop stomped back and forth between her room and the sunroom, muttering about how the whole family was responsible for hiding her flip flop.
Now she doesn’t even call them flip flops, but foot flops so the whole thing was even funnier.
She finally gave up and found something else to wear and stomped by me with her bike helmet on and gave me the evil eye as she went out to ride her bike.
While she was outside, I found the missing shoe and put it in her shoe box.
Later she came out of her room, triumphant that she had found the other “foot flop.” As she paraded around, telling me how she had found it, I tried to tell her it was me.
“No,” she corrected me. “I did, cuz I put it there yesterday, I think”
I gave up and was just happy that the shoe crisis was over and I could only wonder what the next issue would be.
It was still only Tuesday and it wasn’t even noon yet.