My son has been getting into trouble recently for "inappropriate touching" at school. After chatting with him about his behavior, we settled on some positive reinforcement for exhibiting a little more self control: he earns a sticker for every day that he keeps his hands to himself and his pants up with his classmates, i.e. no hanky panky. (Geesh, you'd think I've got a pubescent 15 year old on my hands!) Anyway, five successful days in a row of no hanky panky earns him a date wherever he wants to go with just Mom. A little Oedipal, I realize, but he picked the reward.
Today, as I walked up to the playground after school, my little man came running to announce that "except for kissing Evelyn, it was a "Good No Hanky Panky Day!!!" {pause for consideration} OK, I see the loop-hole: we never actually addressed kissing in the original agreement. It does seem the other rules were followed in this case, so I would say another sticker was earned for his chart.
Tonight, as I snuggled up next to my boy in his bed for prayers, I remembered our earlier conversation, so I fished for some more details: "So, tell me a little more about you kissing Evelyn..." Without skipping a beat, he replied, "It was an accident! I just leaned over, and she was there, and I accidentally kissed her." I couldn't help but giggle at the thought of him bumbling into an unintentional kiss, which got us both laughing. Oh dear, is this really happening already???
The giggles eventually subsided, and I said, "Look, Dude, if you're going to kiss a girl, then own up to it. None of this accidental kissing business, OK?" He agreed with an "I love you, Mom," so I began our ritual bedtime prayers: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to kiss..."
After that, I couldn't even remember the words to the Our Father, we were both laughing so hard.
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