Life is so funny sometimes. Like earlier this week, when Doodlebug's Assistant Principal called me.
AP: Hi! Your son was in my office today because of something that happened on the bus two days ago.
Me: Really? I knew there had been an issue with some Pokemon cards but...
AP: Oh, no. This is because of something else.
Me: ...... ?
AP: See. Apparently he was listening to someone's iPod on the bus and this other kid began pulling on the wires. Doodlebug told him to stop and the other kid said something a bit insulting so your child...
Me: Yes?
AP: Well, he told him to "shut the fuck up".
Me: Oh REALLY?
AP: I have to say, though, that when I called him into the office, he was not only the most polite and respectful child I've ever spoken to, he immediately said, "Yes, ma'am, that's Exactly what I told that boy." And then he said, "I'm very sorry I used that language."
Me: Well it's nice that he was polite about it. And truthful.
AP: It sure was. We don't get much of the truthful with this age group.
Me: Well thanks for letting me know. We'll discuss it with him when he gets home.
AP: Don't be too hard on him. He's just so darn sweet.
Me: Heh. Okay, then.
Now you might find it odd that I dissolved into fits of laughter when I got off that phone call, but I did. No, the situation itself was Not funny. But see... Shaggy has been sprinkling that pretty little word all over the place lately and I've been telling him - time after time after time - that his little brother is going to pick that word up and then HE is going to get into trouble for using it. And when that happens... the Hammer of Hell is going to come down upon his (Shaggy's) head for providing a bad example.
Except it didn't happen. For MONTHS, it didn't happen. And now it has. Yay! There is nothing like real world examples to teach your kids things. After a VERY long discussion with the spawnlings, we created a Cuss Jar where foul language will cost you $1 per word.
Funniest Not Funny thing about it? I have officially placed more money in the Cuss Jar this week than anyone else. Hmmmph. (though none of mine have been the F-bomb. I reserve that little gem for non-spawnling ears)
Mr. Clean thinks it's the most hilarious thing ever. The whole idea was that when the jar was full, we'd use the money to buy a family game. Of course, NOW, Mr. Clean thinks I might as well just go out and buy one since it seems I'm going to be funding it anyhow. Hmmmph.
Speaking of money... have you SEEN the stock markets this week? Whew-doggy. Luckily, we're in a position where it's not affecting us personally so much (our 401k's will be fine). PLUS we just got a sweetheart deal through work to open an account, which Normally you'd have to have $25k MINIMUM to open... except they're letting employees open it with NO MINIMUM. I think I'm going to be buying me some stocks before next week. There are a few we'd be stupid not to get in on, ones I've been researching for a lonnnng time now.
--- I should mention that the deal was on the table BEFORE the market plummeted. I don't want you to go thinking our Big Mama Company thought to do this in response to the current economy. Our BMC is one of the only ones that has NOT been affected by the recent economic crisis in a negative way. If anything, we're doing more business now than ever before. Much to my personal dismay (though the overtime isn't a BAD thing, just an inconvenient thing).
What HAS put a serious crimp in my budget? Freaking Hurricane Ike. Still. When Ike blew through here, I mentioned we lost some trees. Well, we also lost the garden. I have a couple of pepper plants and some herbs left but they're not doing too much in the way of growing things. So. We had to buy a bunch of fresh veggies on our recent grocery trip. I exploded at the card swipe machine and they had to call for a clean-up.
The craptastic part of it is that if I chose to feed my family on boxed, processed CRAP... my grocery bill would be LOVELY. But because we eat tons and tons of fresh and non-processed food... we pay out the hind-parts for it. Go figure. You'd think the reward would be the healthier eating, right?
Well... I actually had lots more to say about the economy but I don't want to start a storm with my views/opinions. I'll just leave you with this:
Say a new stock... we'll call it Dragonfly Inc.... hit the market and everyone was hearing all this great stuff about it. Soon, people were jumping to buy it because, Hello! Great! Stock! (or so everyone says). Then, Dragonfly Inc. goes belly-up because it was a CRAP company. So sad for all those people who bought stock in it... too bad they didn't, I don't know... LOOK into the company before putting their money out there.
Does the government go in and say, "Hey! What a raw deal you got by not looking where you were putting your money. Guess what? We're going to Pay You Back... because you know... that wasn't really fair that you didn't do your homework." ??? Ummm no. They don't. Because playing the stock market is like playing Roulette at The Mirage in Vegas. You play the wrong number and you're shit out of luck.
Well that works for just about anything in this world. Always read the fine print before you stick your money out there; I don't care what it is. Always know "the worst that can happen". And if you decide you can accept the-worst-that-can-happen? And it happens? Deal with it.
It's called Personal Accountability. We used to know what this was...
I guarantee my spawnlings know what it is. That Cuss Jar on the top of my TV? It proves it. You make the wrong decision, you pay for it. Easy as that.
AP: Hi! Your son was in my office today because of something that happened on the bus two days ago.
Me: Really? I knew there had been an issue with some Pokemon cards but...
AP: Oh, no. This is because of something else.
Me: ...... ?
AP: See. Apparently he was listening to someone's iPod on the bus and this other kid began pulling on the wires. Doodlebug told him to stop and the other kid said something a bit insulting so your child...
Me: Yes?
AP: Well, he told him to "shut the fuck up".
Me: Oh REALLY?
AP: I have to say, though, that when I called him into the office, he was not only the most polite and respectful child I've ever spoken to, he immediately said, "Yes, ma'am, that's Exactly what I told that boy." And then he said, "I'm very sorry I used that language."
Me: Well it's nice that he was polite about it. And truthful.
AP: It sure was. We don't get much of the truthful with this age group.
Me: Well thanks for letting me know. We'll discuss it with him when he gets home.
AP: Don't be too hard on him. He's just so darn sweet.
Me: Heh. Okay, then.
Now you might find it odd that I dissolved into fits of laughter when I got off that phone call, but I did. No, the situation itself was Not funny. But see... Shaggy has been sprinkling that pretty little word all over the place lately and I've been telling him - time after time after time - that his little brother is going to pick that word up and then HE is going to get into trouble for using it. And when that happens... the Hammer of Hell is going to come down upon his (Shaggy's) head for providing a bad example.
Except it didn't happen. For MONTHS, it didn't happen. And now it has. Yay! There is nothing like real world examples to teach your kids things. After a VERY long discussion with the spawnlings, we created a Cuss Jar where foul language will cost you $1 per word.
Funniest Not Funny thing about it? I have officially placed more money in the Cuss Jar this week than anyone else. Hmmmph. (though none of mine have been the F-bomb. I reserve that little gem for non-spawnling ears)
Mr. Clean thinks it's the most hilarious thing ever. The whole idea was that when the jar was full, we'd use the money to buy a family game. Of course, NOW, Mr. Clean thinks I might as well just go out and buy one since it seems I'm going to be funding it anyhow. Hmmmph.
Speaking of money... have you SEEN the stock markets this week? Whew-doggy. Luckily, we're in a position where it's not affecting us personally so much (our 401k's will be fine). PLUS we just got a sweetheart deal through work to open an account, which Normally you'd have to have $25k MINIMUM to open... except they're letting employees open it with NO MINIMUM. I think I'm going to be buying me some stocks before next week. There are a few we'd be stupid not to get in on, ones I've been researching for a lonnnng time now.
--- I should mention that the deal was on the table BEFORE the market plummeted. I don't want you to go thinking our Big Mama Company thought to do this in response to the current economy. Our BMC is one of the only ones that has NOT been affected by the recent economic crisis in a negative way. If anything, we're doing more business now than ever before. Much to my personal dismay (though the overtime isn't a BAD thing, just an inconvenient thing).
What HAS put a serious crimp in my budget? Freaking Hurricane Ike. Still. When Ike blew through here, I mentioned we lost some trees. Well, we also lost the garden. I have a couple of pepper plants and some herbs left but they're not doing too much in the way of growing things. So. We had to buy a bunch of fresh veggies on our recent grocery trip. I exploded at the card swipe machine and they had to call for a clean-up.
The craptastic part of it is that if I chose to feed my family on boxed, processed CRAP... my grocery bill would be LOVELY. But because we eat tons and tons of fresh and non-processed food... we pay out the hind-parts for it. Go figure. You'd think the reward would be the healthier eating, right?
Well... I actually had lots more to say about the economy but I don't want to start a storm with my views/opinions. I'll just leave you with this:
Say a new stock... we'll call it Dragonfly Inc.... hit the market and everyone was hearing all this great stuff about it. Soon, people were jumping to buy it because, Hello! Great! Stock! (or so everyone says). Then, Dragonfly Inc. goes belly-up because it was a CRAP company. So sad for all those people who bought stock in it... too bad they didn't, I don't know... LOOK into the company before putting their money out there.
Does the government go in and say, "Hey! What a raw deal you got by not looking where you were putting your money. Guess what? We're going to Pay You Back... because you know... that wasn't really fair that you didn't do your homework." ??? Ummm no. They don't. Because playing the stock market is like playing Roulette at The Mirage in Vegas. You play the wrong number and you're shit out of luck.
Well that works for just about anything in this world. Always read the fine print before you stick your money out there; I don't care what it is. Always know "the worst that can happen". And if you decide you can accept the-worst-that-can-happen? And it happens? Deal with it.
It's called Personal Accountability. We used to know what this was...
I guarantee my spawnlings know what it is. That Cuss Jar on the top of my TV? It proves it. You make the wrong decision, you pay for it. Easy as that.
I love it. Doodlebug is awesome for being truthful. Talked with Papa about politics tonight.... wow, thought I would never get to leave.
Saw your comment at Swishy and thought I'd stop by.
And girl, I don't know how old your son is, but I would have totally laughed, too! I mean, it's probably something I would say!
And yea, you are SO right about the stock market thing. I hope my 401k's fine. But last time I got a statment I lost $3,000, so who knows what it looks like now!
Bubbles - He is awesome for being truthful. Not so awesome for pointing out DAILY that I am the big winner in the Cuss Cash jar while he still only has the ONE dollar in there. Papa - FUN! I've never had the pleasure of that one. Now I'm sort of jealous. LOL
Bina - HI!! Thanks for the comment! He is TEN and I'm still sort of giggling about it. I think I've lost about the same on my 401k but luckily not as much as I could have - I took a loan on it about a month before all this happened. While I whined about it at the time, I'm THRILLED with the decision now. *grin*