Of Fatherhood and Things Taught…

I went to pick my children from school yesterday

It was raining heavily

My son saw my car and started running toward me

One of his friends deliberately stuck a leg out and tripped him

My son fell, face first on the grass

His clothes dirty, he got up and charged at the culprit

I got out of the car

I called his name

He looked at me and stopped

I smiled and said, “You are royalty, you will not retaliate to the barb of commoners”

He nodded, picked his bag and got in the car

We began to talk about interesting stuff

I acted like what happened didn’t happen

It was not an issue at all

This morning as I drove him to school

I told him if his friend came to apologize he should be gracious

If his friend didn’t apologize, he shouldn’t keep malice but he must keep the friend at arms length

No good friend willingly trips his or her friend

When I got to their school today, two teachers were waiting for me

They said they saw what happened yesterday and would like me to come and speak to the students on emotional intelligence sometime next week

I declined because my calendar is full

I couldn’t fit them in at all

When I picked up my son I asked him if his friend came to apologize

He said yes

I said, “And what did you do?”

He said, I accepted the apology but kept far away from him

I nodded!

We did an ice cream treat and it has become one of those life experiences now!

Royalty is a lifestyle

-GSW-