Objects in mirror are closer than they appear!

Our Little's are good at so many things but don't you think sometimes they need a disclaimer like the ones on our rear view mirrors?

I was thinking about my kids going back to school and luckily mine are getting a little older but there is still the possibility that they are going to hear me say something and repeat it. Yep. REPEAT IT! (hangs head in shame) However, we have encountered an all new problem now that they ARE getting older. Guess what? They have their own opinions and certainly their own things to say. Due to the nature of my son's shyness I won't tell you that it was him this story is about. My children are opinionated to say the least but usually very well behaved and typically sensitive to other peoples feelings. Which is what makes this story about a particular little boy so funny.

One of the neighbor girls came home from being out with her mom to a yard full of the neighbor boys, ages 10-12 playing with her brother, age 12. She jumps out of the car, HUGE smile on her face and in anticipation asks the group, "do you like my hair?" grinning from ear to ear she waits, as she knows they do. What's not to love? She just got the cutest highlights for the first time! The group erupts in laughter and with her brother in the lead they, as any group of boys would, begin to tease her over her new hair do. The 2 things wrong with this:

1. Her mother didn't warn her NOT to under any circumstances EVER ask her brother if he like her hair, especially if his friends are around.

2. The rest of us mother's didn't teach our sons the OH SO VALUABLE lesson, when a girl asks you if you like her hair your answer is ALWAYS, Yes!

She quickly retreated to the safety of her house and the boys continued their game of war, or whatever it was that they were playing. Their games always involve plastic weapons of some type.

You'd think that it would end there. Well, that still would have been a great story but don't worry, it gets even better. The next day was Sunday so we headed our family off to church. Said little girl is in the same class with a couple of the little boys that were playing with her brother the night before. One boy in particular, who shall remain nameless (lol) proudly stands before the class that morning and says, "Let's take a vote!" The class responds affirmatively and the little boy continues, "Who HATES Katie's hair?" (Oh crap, who's kid is this?) One other young man lifts his hand quickly and enthusiastically while the other 2 sit quietly and the 2 other girls in the room precede to say how much they like her hair. Katie's mother went to the home of the little vote taker and just expressed to the vote takers parents that Katie was upset and crying over the vote and the vote takers parents expressed their apologies and then proceeded to teach their young vote taker that all important lesson, if a girl asks you if you like her hair what do you say? YES!

This story is what made me think of the following email I got, which I loved and for a second I thought about taping to the back of my own little vote taker.

"On the first day of school, a first-grader handed his teacher a note from his mother. The note read, 'The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents ..'"

Here's wishing you all a happy, opinion free school year!