Lessons Learned

Growing up is all about learning lessons and Caleb had to learn a pretty tough one today, one with built-in natural consequences.

The boys have a tendency to play with the light in the car. Sometimes, they leave it on and most of the time, I'll realize and turn it off, but other times, it stays on and the battery gets drained. This happened one time with Nathan and he's learned his lesson.

This time was Caleb's turn. In the morning, we dropped Andrew off at his bus stop and when we got home, Caleb decided he wanted to play in the car a little longer. Usually when he's finished, he'll close the door and come inside. I went about my business, doing some work upstairs and when I came back down, I noticed the car door had been left open. It had been quite some time now but I didn't think much of it.

Later on, it was time for us to go to the park to meet up with some friends and pick up Nathan from his sleepover. We got in the car, all excited to go to a new park and then the dreaded sound of my car choking and dying filled the garage. I realized my battery was dead. We couldn't go to the park.

I told Caleb the bad news and he got really upset. I explained to him that we couldn't go anywhere because the light was left on in the car and it used up all the battery so now the car couldn't start. He was desperate to go. He thought if we waited a little while, the car would have battery and we could go again.

But unfortunately, that's not how it works. He volunteered another solution: I want to walk to Tennyson Park, Mommy. But the park was too far. It would have taken us 20 minutes to drive there.

Defeated, Caleb let go of the idea of going to the park and found something quiet to do. He scribbled away furiously on a piece of paper, then he taught himself another lesson.

He found a ruler, placed it on his paper and asked me: Mommy, this one you put your hand on it and you draw beside it?

And just like that he learned another lesson.