A teachable moment

Sure, the children aren't kids anymore, but once a father, always a father.

So, we were bowling one afternoon and I said something about the privilege of owning my own bowling shoes. "I don't like sharing bowling shoes with everyone else in town, so I'm glad I own my own."

Yes, I'm a bit of a "germaphobe," as are my two sons. So I wasn't surprised when the youngest one snuck off to the Pro Shop and came back the proud owner of a new pair of bowling shoes. Not only are they new, but they also don't look like the circus shoes that bowling alleys have. Whoops, I used the ancient term for "Family Fun Centers", but that's another blog.

Anyway, Scott bought the shoes as we were leaving so he didn't have a chance to actually use them.

The next day Scott was working, shopping, visiting or something. Anyway, he wasn't around when Derek and I decided to go to Mandan's other bowling alley.

I told Derek he might as well use Scott's new bowling shoes. That way he wouldn't need to put his feet into shoes that have been worn by everyone else in town.

That must have sounded good to Derek, so off we went.

When we got to the bowling alley, we noticed that Scott's shoes still had the price tag on them, and it was snapped on with plastic to the shoe laces. No problem, Derek simply snipped the plastic in two and found that the shoes fit him to a "T."

After a couple of games, Derek tied the shoes back together and placed the price tag back in the laces of the shoes, without the plastic cord.

As we drove home, much to our chagrin, we noticed that mom and Scott were both home.

Never mind, we'll just nonchalantly enter the house, put our bowling balls away and Derek will discreetly take the shoes from his bag and slip them into Scott's. No one will be the wiser.

Well, the plan worked perfectly except that Derek and I couldn't keep a straight face to save our lives. Belinda was asking us what was going on, just as Scott got off the couch and went into the room with the bowling balls to inspect his. There he found his shoes and, he said, "My shoes are still hot. Who's been wearing them?"

Derek admitted that he had worn them, but since they fit him, he would buy Scott a new pair and keep the pair he had worn.

So they left and went back to the family fun center, but there were no more bowling shoes of that size to be purchased.

So, Scott and Derek came back home.

This is where I thought I would provide the teachable moment. You know that thing that your mother teaches you when you are about two: "If it doesn't belong to you, don't touch it."

However, right when I got to the part where I asked Derek, "Did you learn anything today?"

His reply was: "Yeah, don't listen to dad!"