Calling Her Bluff
"You don't have to go to dance class ever again!" I told Alexis. It was a jerk move, I'll admit. Waking your mom up at 3:00 in the morning to tell her that you want to take a vacation to "Hawai-Li" in a few years is also a jerk move, though. I believe in revenge.
"What?" Alexis asked. Apparently she had forgotten all those sarcastic little bombs she had dropped over the course of the past few weeks.
After Alexis was called out for being mean in dance class (which she deserved, btw), she got it into her little head that she hated dance class. She whined about it. She complained about it. She talked about how much she hating going and how she wanted to go back to classes at her old place and blah, blah, blah. It was very much so a complete 180-degree attitude change, so I instantly smelled the rat.
She wanted to quit because she was embarrassed that she had behaved so poorly. It's easier to run away than it is to face our mistakes, after all. The kid had her fastest running shoes on. The only problem was that I was standing there with my hand on her forehead, holding her in place while her feet burned rubber like Scooby Doo.
I forced her to attend the last three classes. I hated doing it because I don't ever want to force her to participate in any extra activities, but she was smoking crack if she thought I was going to let her quit at the very end for anything less than a good reason. Behaving like a jerk and being embarrassed is not a good reason in my book.
But, once the recital was over, she was truly free to choose. Since she had so vehemently insisted she wanted to quit, I was willing to let her off of the hook. Last dance class! Yay!
After thinking about my initial statement for all of 0.00000001 seconds, a look of panic overtook Alexis' face. "But there are more classes in the fall," she replied.
"You said you wanted to quit so I didn't sign you up for any classes," I said. I know. Jerk move. SO SUE ME.
She was visibly upset. I let her stammer and struggle for a few moments before asking, "Unless you want me to sign you up for fall classes? I guess I could do that."
She said, "Yes, please," so quickly I'm now convinced she has a turbo charger installed in her voice box especially for such occasions.
I told her I'd think about it.
It's not like she had fun at her recital or anything. ;-)
Monday, May 23, 2011
Reader Comments (5)
What a lovely photo - the lighting and colors...just fab!
I pull the same kind of stunts with my kids. My oldest is the same way, if he thinks he did something wrong, then he just doesn't want to do it anymore. A little prodding never hurt.
That is a gorgeous photo. Such a cute dress. I don't think I could get away with wearing something like that, though.
Hey, if she's gonna torture you with 3 am wake-ups for no reason, then you can torture her about dance class. Fair is fair.
Mean!
I like it.
EVIL GENIUS.