Not to long ago, during my sonÂ’s Pediatric ENT consult, the doctor asked my son what kinds of things he was reading lately. My son quickly rattled off the last 5 books he read (3 of which were in the Captain Underpants series).

The doc then asked my son if he read any newspapers. “ No” was the answer. The doc in disbelief asked him if maybe he read them occasionally. “Nope” he said “my mommy doesn’t let me.” The doctor turned to me with a surprised look on his face. I looked at him without saying a word waiting to see if he would question me on it. He continued asking us health related questions instead.

By the end of the visit, his curiosity was piqued enough and he returned to the topic of my son not reading newspapers. So after confirming what my son said was true, he finally asked me why.

“What good will come from my son reading about rapes, robberies, murders and titillating gossip at the tender age of 6?”

“What about sports?” the doctor countered.

I smiled and said “We subscribe to Kids Soccer magazine and Children’s Sports Illustrated.”

He nodded and paused for a long moment, mulling over my answer. When he finally looked up, he had a broad smile and a glint in his eye. “How will he ever learn about important developing news events.”

I smiled knowingly back, and said to him, “Go ahead, ask him about any current event you want. So he turned and asked my son what he thought about the controversial initiative being contemplated by our City Council, letting first offenders of misdemeanors go through a speedy court process, and if found guilty, receiving lenient sentences or just probation with no time served.

My son quickly responded by saying: “That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard! How are people going to learn not to do bad things if you give them a free pass the first time they do something wrong.”

The doctor then proceeded to give the example of a hungry kid stealing food from a store for his poor brothers and sisters.

My son stood up, arms akimbo, and said: "I donÂ’t care why that boy stole the food, stealing is wrong and he needs to be punished for it. How else will he learn not to do it again? Besides, if his whole family is that hungry whatÂ’s one loaf of bread going to do? He'll have to keep on stealing in order to feed them. And whoÂ’s going to protect and take care of the store owner? Why donÂ’t you care more about him instead of the boy whoÂ’s being a crimina?"

Out of the mouth of babes.... thatÂ’s my boy!

Posted by: Michele at 08:31 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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