I Got OWNED by a Six-Year-Old OR Dear God, Why Didn't You Include Instructions on How to Parent This Child?

I've always believed in letting children make mistakes and then using those mistakes as learning experiences. I had no idea, though, that at least one of my children would turn out smarter than yours truly.

Last week, Noah came home from school and informed me that his homework for the evening was to use each of his spelling words in a sentence. But, when he went digging through his backpack, he realized he had left his homework journal- with the spelling word list in it- in his locker at school. Now, I happened to know that his teacher keeps a web page with updated homework and spelling lists for the parents. Noah did not know this information, though. I pulled up the list and told Noah that this one time I would let him look at the list online, but if he forgot his journal again, he would simply have to go to school without his homework and explain to his teacher why he was missing his assignment. Aside from getting marks against him for not turning in his homework, he would also be deprived of the sticker they receive daily for turning it in and possibly chocolate which they receive when the entire class manages to turn in their homework.

Today, Noah walked in the door and informed me he had new spelling words and had to write them three times each for homework. He proceeded to get his folder out of his backpack and then realized that he had forgotten his journal.

I put on my Bill Cosby hat, because THIS was a teaching moment!

"Noah, do you remember what I told you last week? Since you didn't bring home your journal and spelling list, you will just have to explain to Miss Gray tomorrow why you aren't turning in your homework."

Completely unaffected by my decree, he sat down at the kitchen table, got out a piece of paper and said, " That's ok. I know what the spelling words are, anyway."

I couldn't argue with that, but I was pretty certain there was no way he would remember all ten words, especially since he spent all day today on a field trip and literally just got back to school in time to write his words, homework assignment and pack his backpack to go home.

About thirty minutes later, he produced his work to me. All the words were spelled correctly. After he left the room, I quickly got on the internet to pull up the spelling list for the week. He had them out of order, but he had them. Spelled correctly.

So much for learning a lesson.

Unless of course, we are discussing me. I learned a lesson... that I am NOT smarter than a first grader!