At Parker's pre-school they have a green card/red card system. The kids start out with a green card every day, if they do something they shouldn't they have to switch their card to red. If they have a red card at the end of the day they don't get a sticker.
One day I picked Parker up and his teacher told me he had gotten into a fight with his friend and they both ended up with red cards. I'm not sure who was more embarassed in this situation, me or Parker. Parker is a really good kid too, so it was that much more surprising to everyone in the situation. After a few discussions with Park, Eric and I decided we could use the whole concept of a red card to our advantage. Now in our house we have a green card/red card system. It gets talked about quite frequently, "You better stop that or you'll get a red card" or "Do you want a red card?" etc etc. It may seem weird, but it's a consequence he seems to understand better than "people won't like you if you act like that".
Keept his in mind as I go off on a tangent real fast.
When Eric and I first met I was startng a defensive driving course. Basically, it was court mandated. When I was a teenager I was a little into speeding everywhere I went. I doubt it helped much that I drove a red camaro, nothing like a sports car that is red to catch any police officer's eye . . . . and their radar gun.
BUT since we have been married, I haven't been pulled over once! Probably because I now have kids with me in the car and I don't want to hurt them by getting into an accident. Eric's been pulled over a few times but usually he gets off with a warning after this comment "Officer, here's my concealed weapons permit, I have a gun in the glove box, would you still like me to pull out my insurance and registration?" I can't use that excuse. If I told an officer there was a gun in the glove box they'd probably cart me off to jail since I DON'T have a permit.
Last Wednesday I had activity days. To get Parker into pre-school I had to switch my work days so I now work on Wednesdays. This was the first Wednesday that I was going to have to leave early to make it home in time for activity days. I ended up leaving way later than I intended - try getting three kids out the door on time for anything, it's ridiculous. Eric had also just had surgery that week and was not feeling great. I was on the freeway heading home, and i just kept getting stuck behind this semi, he didn't want to drive the speed limit. The guy next to him didn't want to drive the speed limit. They kept swapping who was in the lead, but neither one of them would get in front of the other enough that I could pass between them. When they finally did, I went for it, squeezed through the opening and speed around them. I know, I shouldn't speed, but I was in a hurry, and I just needed to get around these people.
Bad idea.
Usually I see the police. And usually it's in enough time that I can react and slow down to five miles under the speed limit, or check my speed really fast to make sure I'm doing fine. I keep reviewing this situation, and I STILL have no clue where this motorcycle cop came from. But he tagged me and pulled me over.
Clearly there is no divine protection offered against speeding home to get to a church calling. Words from the wise . . . . . or at least someone whose experienced it.
He was very nice, showed concern for my husband who had just had surgery, etc, so I couldn't even be mad when he came back with a ticket. The kids were a little confused what was happening, so I was trying to explain it to them.
Parker's response: "MOM! You got a red card!"
Those were also the first words he yelled at Daddy when we walked in.
Yes, I got a red card. And it cost me ninety bucks.
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