John said

While playing outside with the neighbor kids, John was talking not so nice to one of them. I told him to come to me in the house for a minute so we could talk. He went to the side of the garage where I could not see him, but could hear that he was doing something.

me: "John, come in and talk to me for a minute please."

John: "Why? If you want to talk to me you come out here!"

me: "John, we do not talk that way to our mothers. Come here now or you can come in for the rest of the afternoon."

John: "I am busy. Would you just stop talking to me. If you want me, you come here!"

me: (walking to the garage now) "John Davis, you do not talk that way to me. What are you getting in to?"

John: (while throwing down his helmet that he had been trying to put on) "Just forget about it! You wouldn't understand anyways!"

me: "I would not understand what?"

John: "I saw this beautiful girl riding her scooter and I wanted to go and say Hi to her. But now she is gone and I missed her. So just forget about it!"

To which he stomps off out of the garage. Now I as the mother was left with a choice. Do I go after him and teach him a lesson about respect for his mother? Or do I turn around so that he does not see me laugh at his "beautiful girl" comment? I chose the latter. This girl by the way, is about 11 years old, lives somewhere in our neighborhood and apparently is beautiful.

I am left to further ponder: When did you get so brave in your disrespect to your mother? Why are you disrespectful to your mother? If you are 6 years old and trying to say hello to beautiful girls, what are we in for over the next 15 years? And I thought school was hard!