but if it is broken… by all means tell an adult!
“AAAAHHHHHH!!!!! There’s blood on my foot!!!!” screams Speed Police running to her father.
Never a good cry for help. …. Sure enough, the girl was leaving blood footprints as she ran to get help. It wasn’t worth a trip to the E.R. In fact, the wound was actually very small, once the blood was wiped away. Our dad, Safety Boy, acting with speed made his way to the scene of what was soon to be known as the “crime”.
Unbeknownst to us, it all started with a group of teenage boys, Christmas Break, air-soft guns and a little old playhouse.

… don’t you think?!

I’m with TTO, transporting him and a friend to the driving range. I haven’t a clue what’s going on until I call to check in.
“What’s up?” I ask Safety Boy, noticing some tension in my man’s voice.
“Well… one of your daughters has an injured foot.”
“What happened?”
“She cut her foot on the glass from a broken window in the playhouse. A broken window, I might add, that looks intentional… and it wasn’t Slow Walker… or a girl…”
Instantly, I feel bad for TTO.
After finishing the conversation, I turn to the kid in the back of my car.
“Do you know anything about a broken window in the back yard.”
The color drains a bit from his face. He and his friends had shot the house…. not sure if they broke window… yadda, yadda, yadda … ends up saying after my prodding questions, “It’s ALL my fault. Yeah … tell him I was even throwing rocks like they were grenades.” (which they weren’t… drama was flaring)
I could tell he was scared. Thus entered Mistake #2.
… Tell the truth at the onset… don’t wait to be asked. Then tell the whole truth (not most, but all) when asked. The truth? The breakage was an accident – not intentional. His efforts to clean the mess were pitiful… but well meaning. He should have come to us right after the accident happened.
I drop the kids off. TTO is seeking asylum anywhere – hoping he won’t ever have to go back home to receive the pending wrath.
When I get home, Safety Boy was diligently cleaning and working on getting the pane and glass out of the playhouse and into the trash. As we’re “discussing” the lack of … so many things in the culprits handling of the incident, some anger started to flare. Frustrated, Safety Boy reaches for a piece of glass, pulls upward and swissssshhh… the hand slips, hits the piece above, slicees his finger and flings blood everywhere.
Not good. Sooooo not good. Four hours in the emergency room not good.

A parent, in the heat of the moment, might assume a typical teen should have exhibited a particular mature behavior by doing the right thing in a potentially damming situation.
a back seat where they should be more often than not. Anyway … what a way to ring in 2011. … Actually – what a great way to ring in the year. I’m hoping these two guys of mine will be able to talk to each other more and more as the kid inevitable matures.

I picked orange over tie-dye duct tape as the quick fix before the real fix.
Don’t those boys know duct tape is the answer to every problem?!!