For those of you who either don’t have kids…have really good kids…or didn’t have any fun when YOU were a kid, “detention” is when you have to stay after school as a punishment. Generally, the kid has to spend an hour in a classroom with a bunch of other rule-breaker kids being stared down by a disgruntled teacher who is ticked she had to stay late. They do homework for an hour, or just sit there, and then angry parents pick them up at the door.
In my house, detention is just part of the school day. Billy had at least three in the past week.
When I picked him up outside the school today an hour after everyone else went home, I did what any good parent would do. I gave him the obligatory lecture.
“Stop getting detentions!” I said. “Go to class on time!”
“Why?” he said. “I get to play in the shop!”
“You play in the shop for detention?”
“Yep. Today we welded stuff. And all I had to do was be a minute late for science.”
“You did it on PURPOSE?” I asked.
“Didn’t you hear me….I got to WELD! I’ll just go late every day!”
I get the feeling the point of detention is lost on Billy. Or maybe it’s lost on the teacher who is letting him weld for punishment.
