About a year ago, we were getting ready to go to Matthew's baseball game, and Grace informed us that she was going to stay home. This was not unusual, as Grace enjoys her time alone and must get tired of going out to the field every night. After the game, we returned home, and Grace came bouncing down the steps and greeted me with a cheery hello.
This was a little unusual because at that time she was fourteen years old, was rarely cheery and…really enjoyed her time alone, not being cheery, by herself. What a great age for girls!
She hopped into the kitchen and greeted her mother in a similar fashion and I heard Cheryl return the greeting in her typical upbeat tone. Then things got ugly! And I mean U… G… L… Y... UGLY.
Cheryl turned from doing the dishes to give Grace a hug and stopped in her tracks. Are those highlights in your hair?
Why yes, yes they are. Do you like them?
I specifically told you that you were not to highlight your hair. You deliberately disobeyed me.
No I didn't. You told me that I could.
I never told you that you could. In fact, I told you that you could not, and you did it anyway.
Mom, you told me I could. I swear you did.
At this point, I took cover in the dining room waiting to chime in, but Cheryl seemed to have things well under control. It's funny because I am by far, the bigger disciplinarian when it comes to the every day things. I have zero tolerance when the kids raise their voices, talk back, disobey or reply with smart-alecky comments. Cheryl tends to put up with those things---to a point---before she brings the hammer down.
On the other hand, if the kids want to watch a movie or go somewhere, they bypass dear ol' mom and ask me. I tend to be a little bit more lenient about those types of things. Cheryl looks up every movie on a website that I have dubbed www-dot-you can't watch it-dot-com. On the other hand, I base my decision on whether I would like to see the movie myself. Not really effective as a screening mechanism, but at least I get to see some movies that I like. We have our different parenting styles, but it seems to work.
Anyway, as I hid in the dining room, I could not help but think that there had to be a misunderstanding. Grace had to know that her mom would notice the highlights. I mean, I didn't notice, but I am an idiot when it comes to stuff like that. For instance, Cheryl has a rule that Grace can only wear eye shadow, but not eye liner. I don't know the difference between the two, so Grace could look like a mime and I wouldn't take note. Every time I try to tell her she shouldn't have any eye stuff on, she tells me that it is okay and that I have no idea about those types of things!
As the heated discussion continued between Grace and Cheryl, I decided to get involved and called Grace into the dining room. I was probably much calmer than she had anticipated, but I was sure the whole was just a misunderstanding. I asked her if there was any way that she could have misunderstood her mother. There was no misunderstanding, she whispered, she told me I could put highlights in my hair. The whispering had me a bit confused, but I was not confused for long.
As those words left her lips, Cheryl came flying into the dining room like she had been shot out of a cannon. Is that your story? Is that what you want us to believe? You have been asking for months to have highlights in your hair and I have said no every time. Do you think that if I had all of the sudden changed my mind and told you that you could do it, that you wouldn't have jumped right out of your seat and run upstairs to do your hair right away. Then she went in for the kill. Why did you wait until we all left the house for two hours to do this?
GAME. SET. MATCH. I have seen some good cross examinations in my day, but this was as good as it gets. Cheryl stood staring at her defeated daughter like a lion stands over a dead gazelle. I swear, I thought she was going to take a bite out of her, had Grace not sulked on up to her bedroom.
Now it came time to dole out the punishment. I went to her room, as she lay in bed crying, and gave her one more chance to come clean and tell me she did not have her mother's permission to give herself highlights. Tearfully, she confessed.
What to do, what to do.
I told her that she could no longer use her cell phone, and that she could no longer use her computer and she was grounded. For how long? she whimpered.
I thought hard and long before I told her that she was on both actual and electronic lock down until her hair grew back out to its natural color.
That could be months, she lamented.
Really, who knew? As you know, I have no idea about those types of things. Perhaps, you should have thought about that before you disobeyed your mother. Good night blondie!
After about four weeks, Grace was still apologetic. She took her punishment like a man---albeit a man with blond highlights in his hair---and complained very little. She insisted that she was not a bad child and we all agreed. Unfortunately, she had made a very big mistake. After that, Cheryl and I decided to let the restrictions end. As we discussed the whole thing, we also decided that her hair looked pretty good with those highlights---but we didn't tell her that---not until this past Tuesday.
Tuesday was Valentine's Day. I had not even thought about what to get the kids or get Cheryl until Tuesday morning. I tried to order an edible fruit arrangement, but they were not taking orders after noon on Valentine's Day. Gee, do people actually plan for this stuff ahead of time?
Okay, Plan B---Call Cheryl and treat her and Grace to an outing at the beauty salon for some pampering. As a special bonus, tell Grace she can get highlights in her hair. After all, she has been doing all of the right things this past year. She is responsible and helpful. Plus, it is fun to surprise her.
She loved her afternoon out with her mom, and they both looked prettier than ever. Not sure what I will do for Gracie next Valentine's Day, but I am pretty sure that I heard her mom and her discussing tattoos?? I sure hope that doesn't turn out to be just another misunderstanding.
 |
| Beautiful Gracie with her new highlights |
No comments:
Post a Comment