Tio's teachers informed today that he was forging the daily behavior/attitude scores that they give him. He has to come home with at least a 4 out of 5 in order to play sports or stay after school with his friends. To get that score he has to shut up and pay attention in class. Or he could goof around and write their scores for them.
Here's where thinking like a 13 year old comes in handy: "I'll just make up the scores and it's a win-win for everybody," thinks he, all crafty. "Grampy'll be happy that I'm behaving so well, I'll get to play b-ball because I'm such an upstanding citizen and the teachers...well, the teachers don't like me anyway so who cares."
He had a tournament scheduled for tonight and I brought him home an hour before the first game. He knew something was up because he had expected to stay there. "How'd you find out?" he asked after I gave him the news that his plan had failed. At least he didn't go into denial mode. We worked something out so he still got to play tonight and I took him back down to school. I don't know if he'll keep his end up or not. What I can't figure out is that he knows I always find out and it costs him.
After supper, I took Doc out to see the new Muppet movie and didn't hear my phone go off when Tio was ready to get picked up after the games. So instead of calling Grammo or getting a ride with one of several friends who who live in our neighborhood, he kept his coach hanging around for an hour and a half while speed dialing my number. Finally, coach brought him home. When I got home, I lit into him about making the coach wait around and he got pissy over it like somehow this wasn't his fault.
Sometimes using your brains requires considering more than the first thing that jumps into it. And the kids wonder why they don't have more freedom to choose what they should do.
