This morning I signed Nathan's permission slip for the dance.
Michael brought me a permission slip for a dance when he started 6th grade - which completely shocked me - only 6th grade! and I was also surprised he wanted to go, he hadn't shown interest in girls yet. When I had carefully asked Michael a few questions, he said "they'll have food." Oh, food, that explains it. "We have food," I said, hoping to avoid this whole thing for awhile - a few years, a few decades. "But they'll have GOOD food, " he said a little sheepishly. He meant food chock-full of GOOD things like sugar, chocolate, sugar, preservatives, sugar, carbonation, sugar, food coloring, sugar, chemicals, and um, sugar. This from the kid who had just the year before decided on his own that he was not going to eat meat, milk products, or sugar anymore - the no sugar kick only lasted a couple weeks, but he kept up the no meat for a while, and the no creamy dairy products for almost a year and his allergies had really improved. Anyway, I said, "What if I buy you some GOOD food for the weekend?" and he happily agreed and I set my "no dances until you're 14" rule firmly in place.
Now I have a 15 and a 14 year old - and I'm seeing interests in more than just FOOD. At least they have good taste. ("good taste" seems totally inappropriate here but the synonyms I found were even worse, except maybe "discernment" which sounds too severe)
