Warning: today's post won't be funny. Unless reading about the punishment of a sweet, kind, and usually upstanding child is your cup of tea. So right there you know it's not about M because punishing her is a bimonthly event at least. This time it's about my 12 year old son. Ugh. He's easy to be frustrated with because he's almost totally incapable of finding things which are RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS FACE and and because he can be,at best, obtuse. But he's incredibly hard to stay angry with because he is possibly the sweetest and most well-meaning boy in the world.

Here's what happened: he took his MP3 player, which is virtually attached to him, to baseball practice and put it in his jacket pocket. When practice was over it wasn't there. Did I mention that it was a $150 MP3 player? Well, it was gone. He looked around with his coach for awhile and then skulked home. I was so mad. I HATE when the kids lose shit. ESPECIALLY expensive stuff. It's really really important to HH and I that they understand that if special things are given to them, they now have the privilege and responsibity to care for them. I'd hate if our kids would be the kind who take things for granted. They can take me and my love for granted at times, they can take for granted that they will have hot meals, clean clothes, and a place to live, but to a certain extent, we expect them to earn the extras.

So he's grounded from tv, computer, and seeing friends for 2 weeks. The Wii is gone for an indeterminate amount of time. And he owes us $50 to pay for his part in the MP3 player being lost/stolen. And he needs to pay it back by the end of the summer.

Oy, my heart hurts. Because this kid is not the kind who sloughs off his parents' anger easily. He cries easily and he hates to disappoint. I suggested he take a shower after we talked because I know how much I like to cry in the shower. And HH said he could hear him talking to himself in there, so I guess I was right.

Parenting is so hard.