Lessons Learned

 

There have been a couple of lessons learned this past week due to this little device.

My 10 year old has had an MP3 player for a few years, so of course, his little brother was begging for one for at least a year.  I am not sure he even knew exactly what it was used for, but he was still begging.

When Black Friday rolled around this year, we snatched one up for Christmas.

Oh, the joy expressed by my son.  He jumped and danced around like we had given him 10 sets of Legos.  He was SO excited to be the owner of this fabulous piece of technology.  He told everyone he knew that he got one....and then he promptly forgot about it and didn't mention it for two months.

Two days ago he decided he needed to find it, and someone needed to load music on it NOW.  

It was found (by his brother), and music was loaded on it (by his brother).  

Twenty-four hours later, he went running up to his daddy screaming, "These things are CHEAP! We need to go buy new ones right now!"

He was holding the ear buds up in the air, and sure enough, one was broken into three pieces.  

Right in the middle of saying, "Wow, you are right, those must be cheap....", I caught myself, and asked him if they just fell apart, or if he did something to make them break.  I casually asked, "Did you happen to step on them or throw them down?"

Bless his little puppy dog eyes, I knew immediately that he was guilty.  He started with a "Well....", followed by a long pause.  Followed by a few more stuttered syllables.  And then he blurted out the truth:

"I WAS CONSEQUENCING THEM!"

This is the moment when every good parent  keeps a straight face and sternly talks to their child about their actions.

We were not good parents.  There was just something about his look and the word "consequencing" that did us in.  Apparently they were not staying in his ears, so he took it upon himself to whip those babies into shape.  Or in this case, out of shape.

For a moment he thought he was off the hook.  However, we recovered quickly and shared a few key facts.  1) No, we are not going to Walmart "right now" to get you new ear buds.  2) No, it is not your brothers fault that he cannot find his extra pair for you to use.  3) No, we will not be paying for them.  4) You broke them. You replace them. 

This went over extremely well. 

Ha.

The second lesson learned was for me.  Remember that little fact about big brother loading music for little brother?  

Bad idea.

It's not that he secretly loaded trashy music.  He put some new stuff on there...Toby Mac, Newsboys, random iTunes songs...and he put some old CD's on there...namely DC Talk.

Not a problem.  DC Talk is Christian music.

However, they have this one old song....called "I Don't Want It".  

Maybe you've heard it.  

If not, here are some of they lyrics. I honestly had no idea what to say when my barely 7 year old walked into the room singing:

 I don't want it, I don't want it, want it  

I don't want it, want your sex for now 

I don't want it, I don't want it, want it   

I don't want it, 'til we take the vows 

S-E-X is test when I'm pressed  

So back up off with less of that zest 

Impress this brother with a life of virtue  

The innocence that's spent is gonna hurt you  

Safe is the way they say to play  

Then again safe ain't safe at all today  

So just wait for the mate that's straight from God  

Don't have sex 'til you tie the knot 

I don't want it, I don't want it, want it  

I don't want it, want your sex for now 

I don't want it, I don't want it, want it   

I don't want it, 'til we take the vows 

No, he did not sing this word for word.  Not even close.  And he appeared to have no clue what he was singing. 

But still....

I am just picturing the moment when he walks down the school hallway belting out a line.

Ugh.