A bag of chips, the safe seat, and a good life lesson

“We’ll never be upset with you for getting in trouble because you did the right thing or you stood up for something you believe in,” I told him. And even though he already knew that, I wanted to remind him. I had no idea he was even involved in the incident until I asked him about it. Josh and I had been in Norway working, unable to call home and get details such as this.

But here’s what happened. Max was eating lunch in the school cafeteria with his class when one kid took another kid’s chips and passed them to the kid next to him, telling all the kids to keep passing the chips down the table. I’m not sure how far down the table the chips made it, but Max and his friend Nick put an end to it. They stood up, got the chips back and gave them back to the kid they belonged to.

And then Max and Nick got in trouble. I’m not sure exactly the details, but I’m assuming that the cafeteria ladies thought they were causing trouble out of their seats, so they both got sent to the safe seat. Now, my first reaction was to get angry. The boys were doing the right thing and they got in trouble for it. But then I asked some more questions. Max said that he got the opportunity to tell his teacher what had happened and the teacher spoke with the class about the situation. He and Nick didn’t actually get in any real trouble (besides sitting in the safe seat for the rest of lunch).

And then I realized that this was an excellent learning experience. Because the truth is, we don’t always get rewarded for doing the right thing in life, and sometimes we get punished… even when we have good intentions. So I took a minute to talk with Max about the situation. And we discussed how we felt that the lunch ladies weren’t being mean to him and Nick… they just didn’t know the full situation. And that sometimes that happens. But I wanted him to know that we were proud of him for doing the right thing… even though he got in trouble.

One of our family values is being loving and I couldn’t be happier that my little guy is living that, at home and at school. Want to learn more creating your family values and teaching your kids about them? Check out our Intentional Parenting e-course.

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