Almost Scared Straight
Now that hockey is far behind us, the boys have a lot more time to hone their Guitar Hero skills. Joey is intrigued by the metal head and rock n roll life styles and loves watching the GH3 songs played by the original bands on Youtube. I knew it was only a matter of time that his new lifestyle would lead him astray.
J: (Handing me an empty piece of notebook paper right before leaving for school on Weds.) Mom, can you sign this?
Me: What is it? Why do you want me to sign an empty piece of paper?
J: I want to compare your and dad’s signatures. Here just sign here, right under this folded part.
Me: That doesn’t make any sense to me. Are you going to try to learn to forge my signature like I used to do with Nana’s?
J: (Wide eyed and mind spinning) No! What did you do?
Me: I learned how to write Nana’s name and would skip class and then sign her name to my excuse notes for missing class.
J: YOU? … You did that? Did you get caught?
Me: Oh yeah… Big time…
J: What happened?
Me: Big trouble!
J: Did you get grounded?
Me: Oh yeah.
J: For how long? Like a month?
Me: At least.
J: (Looking really conflicted) Hmmm….
I went about getting everything ready to leave and noticed that he had conned Mark into signing the paper. I decided that I HAD to see how this was going to play out, so I grabbed a pen and signed it as well. Joey packed it into his backpack and hustled out the door.
About a half hour later I was finishing getting ready for work when the phone rang… (Can you guess where this may be heading?) I answered it.
J: Hi Mom. You know that piece of paper I had you sign?
Me: Yeah.
J: Well, it was for a note to Mrs. C because I lied to her about my homework.
Me: So what are you going to do about it?
J: I don’t know. Mrs. W found out about it and she wants to talk to you.
Mrs. W: Hello (she explains the situation with the reading teacher and why she made him call).
Me: Book him.
Later that night Joey and I were in the car on the way to baseball when he started inquiring about my life of forgery on school notes. He was curious about my punishment and what my mom did about it. I decided to turn the tables on him.
Me: Well, Joey, if you had a kid who lied to their teachers and got caught, and then tricked his parents into signing a note they didn’t even read or know about, what would you do for the punishment?
J: I would take away their Playstation and Gameboy for like a month or a week, or… Hey! This is a trick question isn’t it? You’re going to do the same thing to me as I’m telling you, aren’t you?
Me: Not necessarily.
Joey ran through all the scenarios of what he would impose as punishment for his crime. It was so funny to hear how punitive he would be if it were his kid.
Me: Do you suppose it’s your new rock n’ roll lifestyle causing you to make bad decisions? Have you started smoking now too? Are you planning to throw TVs out the window and smashing guitars?…
J: (Exasperated) Mom!!!
Me: No guitar hero or electronics for a week so you can think about making better decisions and lying to your teachers and parents.
He didn’t argue – probably since he would have been way more harsh in exacting punishment. I think he was pretty embarrassed that he got busted. His reaction of surprise that his parents were once kids who tried to get away with things was fun to see. He has been sufficiently warned that we may be old but we are still one step ahead of him.
I’m glad he’s trying this stuff now while the consequences are minimal and the lessons are falling on an impressionable mind.
Going Karmental 
TMI = lest you think this is too much information, it really stands for Teachable Moment Incident.
Heh… When I was in elementary school, I tried to forge a note from my parents. I wonder if it was the mis-spellings that clued them off or the fact that I wrote it in red crayon! 🙂
I tr to forge my Mom’s signature but since that did not work, she has spiky, old-fashioned impossible to forge writing. One technique i used in school that I have yet to see duplicated was…our report cards were mailed to our house, since I was the mail collector at the end of the driveway after getting off the bus, I would steal my report card and hide it. My little sisters report card was carried home in her chubby little hand, so I merely talked her into withholding her report card (hiding it in my room with mine) so as not to alert my mother that report cards were issued. It really worked well for weeks at a time, at which point when I absolutely HAD to present it, I argued that is was so much OLD news, that it really didn’t matter anymore, I had changed, blah, blah, blah…
Just wait until your boys are grown up and learn all about your comings-and-goings. I can’t wait to educate them in full of all the fun I KNOW you had in highschool and college. But I’ll wait until they’re out of school before regaling them in your extensive exploits. =-P
I never forged Mom’s signature because I was sure I’d get caught. All-in-all, I was an okay kid I think…though I’m sure Mom has stories of her own.
Yeah, Muddy – You were the biggest snow jobber of the pack. Ohhhh, I would nevvvvver drink. And then I take you to a party and you’re rolling quarters into the cup like a freakin’ pro.
Nice try on the old wool over my eyes, again. Ain’t gonna work there, muddy.