Art & Life by Sue Davis

Her belt buckle displayed in 3 inch, silver letters, all caps, a word that rhymes with cluck. Nice belt buckle, I thought to myself, as my 9 year old son and I forged our way through the crowd infested, after christmas mob at the mall. This shiny declaration was smack dab at eye level for shorter pedestrians. And I am not referring to myself by the way.

Now, I am not offended by language or personal expression in most instances. I guess I was just surprised at the blatant disregard for other viewers. A quick glance at the rest of the figure wearing the festive buckle revealed a goth type girl, pierced in several places. Well, maybe I’m getting old, or maybe I just didn’t want Max to be exposed to that sort of apparel at his age. Although kids today have pretty much seen and heard it all.

I guess I was never one of those obviously rebellious teenagers. I quietly object to authority in other ways. Like wearing my shirts inside-out, or driving my car without my license on me. Lame, right?

Well, as they say, it takes all kinds. I don’t think my kids will ever feel the need to rebel in public venues. They do fine on an every day basis making their opinions known at home. And maybe if I actually listen to them and try to see their point of view, they won’t feel the need to wear questionable clothing.

Time will tell.

Sue

My son has this little problem at school with a certain teacher: he’s on her ordure list, shall we say. He was sitting in detention with her one afternoon for putting his head down on his desk, or some such infraction. He told her school would be so much better if someone paid him to attend. Her reply was that, “Grades are your money (young man).” His response was, “Well, they are like counterfeit money to me. And using counterfeit money is against the law - you can get arrested for that you know.” Her reply: “Would you like another detention (young man)?”

Now, don’t get me wrong, my son is not perfect. He is apt to be very frank with people and was simply stating a fact about how he felt. I thought his response was very clever and too funny for a kid that age to come up with. I burst out laughing when he related that story to a third party. He was explaining the types of behavior that earn detention, not bragging about the ordeal.

Sometimes parents don’t realize the pressures that kids have to deal with every day. We think they have an easy life in comparison to ours. It is always enlightening to listen to a child’s point of view on certain things. And I think that the single most important quality a person can possess is a sense of humor. So lighten up, I say, and try and address the issues that really need attention.

 Sue