Neither Lucas nor Eli see any reason for shoes....ever. We count our blessings that they wear them to school. A lot of times they don't wait to get in the door from school and take the offending shoes off in the car.....boys feet smell....that's a story for another day.
January in the Midwest, with snow and sub freezing temps should lend a sense of need to the boys that, if not boots at least shoes, are required outside. At certain points a parent thinks, okay this will be a learning experience and a teaching moment. I thought this...not the case.
One of Lucas' chores is to take out the trash after school. Coming in the door from school I reminded the boys of their chores and then proceeded to start supper. By pure chance I met Lucas coming back inside and glanced down at his feet....his bare feet. Really. We live in the country, our trash dumpster is not close to our house, there is a lot of snow between the house and it.....again he had no shoes on. Urgh!
Lucas! Really! His response..."Mom. It is okay. I'm tough, I'm almost 13, I'm not cold." Well son. You may be almost 13 but you definitely are going to be putting shoes on those feet and it won't matter if you are 85. "but Mom, I didn't wear shoes in the Philippines!" (He pulls out the Philippine card as if that will win the argument). So what is a mature and experienced mom to do?
I opened the door, scooped up a handful of snow and proceeded to stuff it down the back of his shirt. Yep. Mature...not so much but it did effectively communicate that Iowa in January is not the Philippines at any time of year. The shoes have been on his feet when exiting the house ever since.
No comments:
Post a Comment