the big D

detention that is.

i remember getting detention for skipping school (i know...not so good) and having to come to school on a saturday for 6 hours. it wasn't that great. i was grounded to the point where my social life was non-existent (or at least that what it seeemed like at the time). bad. and i would be upset if my children did the same.

so tyler has served 2 detentions already for being late for class. but i wasn't upset. in fact, i think i'm more happy than upset. sounds strange, doesn't it?

i guess i could have been angry at him. but, really. he wasn't being late on purpose. simply a series of unfortunate events that led him to be tardy for class. granted, i wasn't jumping for joy when i found out. BUT [here's the part that makes me happy] it's the fact that i found out the news through him. after school detention is for only about 20 minutes. and sometimes he doesn't come home until after 20-30 minutes until school lets out. so, if he wanted to he could have lied. yes, he could have lied. but the first thing that comes out of his mouth was "i have detention." as if the words were just waiting to explode if he kept it in for too much longer.

as parents, we have always been up-front with him (tailoring the information we provide to his age, of course). likewise, we expect him to be honest with us. and he has always been. even when he turned cards (i.e. getting in trouble) in grade school. he would just come home and straight up tell us. knowing that he would be disciplined for his actions. sure it stresses me out that he's already had a couple of detentions this early in the school year. but the reason behind the detentions are not major issues we need to be concerned about (like assaulting the teacher or skipping class). of course, we made it clear to him that this shouldn't be a reoccuring event. and i had him sit down and write out a "game plan" for what he needs to do to resolve this problem.

but i think at this point, i'm just glad that he can still be comfortable enough to be honest with us, no matter how big or small the issue.