Don't bring me down, Bruce!

June 28, 2009

Speaking of Liam and his attraction toward the arts, today he wandered downstairs wearing a blue, golf shirt and walked into the kitchen for breakfast. I could not see him but I could hear Leanne making a weak attempt of scolding the boy. As she was about to burst in to laughter, she said as sternly as she could, “Go show your father what you have done.” He slowly walked over to where I sat, hiding the back of his shirt as well as he could. “Turn around and show Dad,” she said. He slowly and deliberately turned his back towards me. There in large, sharpie marker letters he had written:

“Don’t bring me down.”

I was a little puzzled a first, not understanding where a 5 year old would have picked up such an archaic phrase. As I pondered it for a moment, I realized that Liam was in agony, convinced he was about to receive the spanking of his lifetime for his blatant act of rebellion. The humor of the situation sprang upon me and I had to turn away to conceal my laughter. That was all Leanne needed to push her over the edge and everyone heard her snort with laughter from the kitchen. Do you know how hard it is to punish a little boy in this situation without showing your amusement? After all, he ruined a good shirt, right? Well, I was able to get control and mete out the punishment. He is to perform 5-6 extra jobs until he is able to earn the $3 he will be required to spend on a new shirt to replace the old one.