Why was my Son a Lemming?

I always thought I did a good job with our kids. They know right from wrong...I thought they did...and they are generally thoughtful and loving, especially my youngest. This is why I was so surprised he did what he did a few days ago.

Our boys do Cub Scouts. They just had their annual Blue & Gold Banquet, celebrating the birthday of Scouting. The boys, as boys will do, got tired of the somewhat long-winded program. Pretty soon, the scheduled turn of events morphed into a room full of paper airplanes. The scouts stayed busy, first by drawing on their airplanes. Next thing I know, my youngest comes back with his prized airplane, decorated in a swastika, the words "Nazi Bomber" and some other dreck inscribed on the side. What???!!!

Don't forget, our German exchange student was sitting right at the table. He took one look and calmly said, "Somebody needs a history lesson" and left it at that. Mom bit her tongue and gave my son the evil eye. Son dutifully erased what he had done and the banquet ended.

After he sincerely apologized, we had a long talk about it at home. I didn't want to hear the excuses that an older boy at the banquet pressed him to do that. That made it even worse! Since when did my son become a lemming? Following blindly along was worse than the artwork itself in my opinion! Well, we went over the whole Nazi/Hitler thing, because I'm sure he didn't totally get that, and then I asked him the ubiqitous, "If someone told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?" Of course, his answer was "NO!"

Anyway, there was a teaching point here, and you can bet I hammered it home:

• There are people languishing in jail today because they did exactly what someone told them to do, without thought and without reflection

• Whatever you do right now can have bigger consequences later

• Be a leader and not always a follower

• Learn to catch the signs or at least know or suspect when someone is trying to jive you

• Take at least a split second to think before you do something

• It's perfectly okay to say "no" to some bozo older kid, egging you on to do something

We'll see what happens in the future. He's had a bad week. He is home from school today..there goes his perfect attendance record...because he hurt his foot falling off his friend's bike and can't rightly walk..no helmet, no shirt and no shoes...his doctor was surprised to hear that and boy did I feel like a bad mom when we went to go see him yesterday....but that is another story all together.

What have your kids done lately that has astounded you? Do you have a story to share?