My buddy is a trip

[Widetrack55]

One of Ray Wylie Hubbard's songs has a line about a place in hell for parents who wack their kids. Something like "you don't teach 'em how to act, you just hit them for what they do."

[banger]

Sometimes you think your kids aren't listening to what you try to teach, and then you discover they were listening, but didn't get the message . . .

When my son was 5, through an open window, I heard the following exchange between my son (S) and another neighbor boy, (OB) about the same age as my son . . . (OB) "Suzy made me mad, and I'm going to hit her !" -- (S) "You can't hit girls !" Swelling with pride at my son's statement, I was floored by what he said next, (S) "You can kick them, but you can't hit them !"

The ony thing I could think of was, I had always told my kids to think before they act, and figure out their options, and my son figured you HAD to be able to do SOMETHING, so if you couldn't hit, then . . .