Trouble

Today when I picked up Leo from school, he said, "You're going to be mad at me. Please don't be mad at me. I need to show you something." We went inside and he explained that he had brought in his Easter candy to school and had been giving it out to the other kids. At one point, he apparently told them to help themselves and in the ensuing fight over candy, the teacher went over, saw the candy and confiscated it. Leo had gotten in trouble (my bad) last week for bringing in a cough drop to school. This time it was candy.

He also said that he had tricked me. He was worried at home that his pockets were too small. He had pretended to put his Easter candy in a special hiding place in his bedroom and then asked if he could bring a backpack to school. He ran down to his room to get stuff for his backpack. When we were putting his stuff in his cubby at school, he got all secretive and said, "I'll bet you don't know what is in my pocket!" I asked him if he had candy in his pocket or anything edible and he said no. He played that little game with me and I eventually gave up. He wouldn't let me check his pockets and he claimed there was no food in his pocket. It turned out there was nothing in his pockets - it was all in the backpack. I saw him showing his backpack to his friend Louisa but he told me not to watch them so I left.

Anyway, I guess it was our first major transgression. He certainly knew what he had did was wrong. He hid it from me and the teachers. He gives people candy at our house all the time and its no problem, so I can see that he might have thought giving away candy at school would be similar. But he must have known it was against the rules because he hid it. I asked him why he tricked me and why he didn't tell me or the teachers what he was doing. He said he didn't know. He was very upset coming home today because he thought Paul would give him a time-out. I explained that Paul probably had a lot of sympathy for people who break rules because Paul was a rule-breaker and that it was me he should be worried about because I was such a goody-two-shoes.

We decided he would not get any candy or video or any treat today. And that I would put the candy up high somewhere so he could not access it. He said, "Mom, you can't do that because I can reach anywhere. You have to lock it up!"