I frequently chuckle as I think back on the stupid stunts my children pulled and how I grounded them from things they liked as a form of punishment. I recall taking away the phone, TV, electronics, the car and ultimately the freedom to leave the house.
The time they borrowed the boat and left a large barrel that vaguely resembled a bong on it … my embarrassment when I found it the next weekend with some friends of my own… the time I discovered they had snuck back out of the house after curfew….
All of the punishments were “justified”. They did the crime, they’ll do the time.
WHAT THE HECK DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T SEE THE BABY? THAT’S NOT FAIR! I DID NOTHING WRONG! I WANT TO APPEAL TO A HIGHER AUTHORITY? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ARE THE HIGHEST AUTHORITY? I’M YOUR FATHER! YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! YOU ALWAYS LOVED MOM MORE THAN ME! I’VE ALWAYS LOVED YOU AND WOULD NEVER….
Yeah Yeah… Deaf ears. She won’t let me see the baby. I am learning through the phone that the kid is going to graduate college soon. Well, maybe not *real* soon … but she’s starting to crawl, sit and stand on her own… all in the past two weeks… and all things that Grandpa hasn’t seen. I should be there. I should be the arms the child is crawling towards. It should be my lips that are smothering her in kisses, catching her as she wobbles on her new found legs. It should be me that is filming these precious moments for all of eternity. Who is going to protect her from that neighbor boy? I’ve seen the way he looks at her!
But No. I have a sniffle and am not allowed within sixty miles of the baby. She even threatened to take out a restraining order against me! It’s not fair I tell you! All the other cool grandpas are filming their precious babies. What am I supposed to do during show and tell?
What do you mean by “Go to your room”? Who the heck do you think you are? Who died and left you in charge?
Grandpa Boltz
P.S.> I’ll see you next week Charlie!