I decided to grow a backbone and hold our 16-year old to his curfew agreement last week. It is never easy for me to administer consequences, but I really felt I needed to help him learn the commitment and punctuality that keeping curfew requires. So he lost the privilege of going out this week. Not a big deal, really, because he is so busy, but he loves going to the high school football games and there was one tonight. He could have made a big deal about missing it, but he made a better choice instead.
His choir was singing the national anthem, so he had to be there at the beginning of the game. When he learned that his sisters had been invited for the evening to go to a friend's house, he cheerfully offered to drive them since it would be on the way. The next thing I know, he's loading Sullivan in the car, too. I wondered how that would work having a 2 year old with him while he tried to sing. That little guy came back feeling so special, with so much to say! He got to see flags and fireworks and hang out with "Mrs. Christensen", a friend's mom, while Nathan sang. I think those two guys genuinely had a great time together, even though they didn't get to stay for the whole game.
So big brother came home and cleaned out the van so he can use it for his big homecoming date tomorrow night. As soon as he was done, he was down on the couch with his little friend. Diego is always more fun when you have a big brother to watch it with.
It is such a joy to see my kids care for each other. It makes the hard parts of big family life completely and totally worth it!
That is a very sweet story!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like he's a sweet kid, but I can't believe he's 16! You need to post an occasional picture so I don't think of them as tiny guys anymore. :)
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