My SD Moms The other morning while I was on my way to work, my oldest son (who is 12 years old) called me from the school office because he forgot his binder. He asked if I could drop it off so he wouldn’t 
get in trouble. I had two options: 1. Bring him his binder or 2. Do not bring it in and use this moment to teach him a lesson about being responsible for his own belongings.
He’s an incredible kid who takes school seriously, does his homework daily and gets straight A’s. This was the first time this had happened and I didn’t want to get in the way of his education. In my opinion, this was a simple and honest mistake on his part and I didn’t want to punish him for that. I decided that this was not the right time to teach him a lesson about being responsible for his own belongings so I dropped off his binder.
Fast forward a few days later…
I get a text from my son who was at school saying that he forgot his gym uniform. He asked if I could please drop it off so he wouldn’t get in trouble. I had two options: 1. Bring him his gym uniform or 2. Do not bring it in and teach him a lesson about being responsible for his own belongings.
This was the second time in week that he forgot something for school. Thinking about it logically, not having a uniform wouldn’t interfere with his education and he would still be able to participate in gym. I decided this WAS the right time to teach him a lesson about being responsible for his own belongings so I did not drop off his gym uniform.
What lessons did we learn this week? All actions have consequences, take responsibility for yourself and always remember to have compassion for someone when they make an honest mistake. We all make honest mistakes once in a while and that’s okay.
PS. He hasn’t forgotten anything since. 🙂
-Amber
