Vince and I hadn’t been married long. Chad was 9 and I’ve always said that if Vince and brought a child into the marriage that acted like Chad did, I doubt we’d still be married.
One day Chad came running into the house, almost hyperventilating. He said “Vince is trying to kill me. He’s going to hit me with a stick!” I said “WHAT?” I was a bit of an overprotective mom and I went marching outside . . “Were you trying to hit him?”
The rest of the story . .
Our garage had so much “stuff” in it. Vince was out there doing something. Chad was right under his feet bouncing some kind of bouncy rubber ball and it went behind some of the stuff. Chad couldn’t find it. He grabbed a stick and kept hitting everything in the garage. Vince asked him to stop and Chad kept doing it. Finally Vince said “CHAD! I’ve asked you to stop hitting things with that stick!” Chad, continuing to hit things, said “I can’t find my ball. I remember what it sounded like when it hit something and I’m hitting things because when I hear the sound again, I’ll find my ball!” Vince picked up a broom and jokingly (according to Vince) said “Would you like for me to hit you with this broom and see what you sound like?”
Chad had made it sound like Vince was chasing him, threatening to beat him with a stick. I suggested that Vince be a little nicer in the way he talked to Chad. I could just hear Chad’s dad hearing Chad’s version of that story and me being in court.
When I saw Vince chasing the chicken, I immediately thought of that story from 20+ years ago. I could just hear that chicken telling me “He’s trying to kill me!”
Nelle Coursey says
That chicken story is one of the funniest I have heard in a long time! Killer chicken!!
cassews says
Isn’t it funny how our memory brings back things like that (good or bad!) . Most of the time we think its bad at the time, but ends up to be funny later on …..
April Reeves says
Both my ex and I have learned to call and get the other side of the kid’s version of a story before getting upset over anything. They don’t lie but they definitely leave out key details. You would think they are being deprived and abused based on their versions. Once you hear what they were doing prior to punishment or actions taken, it is more like yep, sounds about right. Sometimes we even pre-warn the other parent about something so they know to ignore the poor me, I am being treated so badly over there drama. (FYI – no physical punishment on either side being dished out so not even talking about that. More like they won’t let me have my ipad all week. No explanation of their part in the process that led up to that step). It rarely happens cause it doesn’t get them anywhere.