Does fun always have to end bad?

Well, well, well. With my trip out of town, I have been remiss in keeping everyone updated on the twerplets. You may recall that I last left them with the title of 'offspring.' It had not taken them very much time to revert to their old ways. For the most part, it was not that they were trying to be bad. In fact, often, it is just because they are having too much fun together and they just lose complete and utter control. They begin to make bad decisions. At the height of their chaos someone always seems to get hurt and then the screaming, yelling, and blaming begins. It is amazing how quickly this transpires. The fact remains: they are nuts. They push the envelope too far.

This eventually leads to several poor choices and bad behaviours.

Let me provide an example.

Graham is fundamentally a great little boy. Intensely great. He is kind, caring, and sweet. In the category of niceness I would put him up against any child and most religious leaders. He is just genuinely a great miniature human being.

Can you tell, I love my Dudely.

Anyway, even this miniature mountain of humble sweetness, is susceptible to the ways of kiddo crazy chaos. Furthermore, when this happens, there is little that can be done to turn the tide before it becomes unmanageable.

My hypothesis, at this point, is this: Children having too much fun make very poor decisions - even when they are great kiddos.

Journey with me.

Not to long ago, last week in fact, we were all at Tae Kwon Do. You may remember that one of the reasons that my kiddos are in Tae Kwon Do is because of the discipline. That still rings true. Their master, Master Adrian, is fierce. Not only is she an excellent instructor but she is also a very accomplished athlete. After all, she was a U.S. Open Gold Medalist. This is one tough teacher and not one that you would not want to face in a dark alley.

However, Master Adrian is great with the kids. She seems to know the balance of fun and discipline and can always wrangle the kiddos back into order when needed. Yet, she also has a playful side and can get them to giggle when they need it. During class she even sometimes spars with them. This is a good exercise for the kiddos as she knows exactly what moves to make to get them to learn how to apply the various punches and kicks to a combat situation. While she always lets them score, she also ultimately always wins. The winning point usually comes in dramatic fashion as she ends it with a combination that chases them back into their position in line at the end of the mat. Luckily, Graham is fast (he runs a bit like Forest Gump and has every bit of speed) and can usually make it off the mat before she scores her last point. He knows it is coming and he makes a run for it. Yes, Graham has prey instinct down. He is generally very proud of himself for outrunning the barage of kicks and spins and it always ends in giggles.

Well, last week, right after Master Adrian worked with him and chased him off the mat, Graham ended in his usual fit of giggles. He was having great fun. As Master Adrian turned away and headed back to the front of the class Graham thought it would be a great time to throw a roundhouse kick right into her back side.

Yes, my son (the yellow belt) decided to give his instructor (an accomplished national champion second degree blackbelt) a kick to the posterior.

I could not believe it. In fact, we could not believe it so much that we all busted out in laughter. We hid it from his eyes but I must admit it was likely the funniest thing I had ever seen. Even Master Adrian was having difficulty keeping a straight face as she towered over Graham's sweet little body. She grabbed him up in one fell swoop. She feigned pummeling him to the ground. He just continue to giggled uncontrollably.

Lynley and I, of course, told him never to do that again. Away from his prying eyes, we all had a good chuckle, Master Adrian included.

This, however, is an excellent, supportive example of the type of behavior that somehow is released from my kiddos brains. I swear they were not taught this way.

It is the fun. It is the laughter. It always ends in bad decisions.

I haven't figured out exactly what to do.

I wish I had a magic purpose wand.