I hate to admit this, but sometimes our kids fight with each other. And because of this, sometimes we take action. This particular day, my hubby opted to be more democratic about the process, rather than grounding them all for life.
Shotgun was a baby and adored by everyone. Scout was 5, just in kindergarten. Doodlbug was 7 in 2nd grade. Blondie was 8 and in 4th grade. Sam was 11 and in 6th grade.
I was sitting in the kitchen ignoring all the fighting and commotion going on. Mr. Perfect, on the other hand, had had enough! So he called all of the kids into the living room for a discussion. I was at the kitchen counter where all I could see was MP.
The discussion begins:
MP: “Okay kids. It’s obvious that mom and I have made a mistake and had too many children. We can see that you don’t like each other, and so we’ve decided that we need to get rid of one person. Here’s a piece of paper and a pencil. You can vote for only one person. You can even vote for the baby if you’d like.” (yeah ,right. They all loved him!)
At this point, there was a lot of grumbling and complaining. MP told them that it was “too bad it had come to this point,” and to “hurry up and fill out your paper.”
Sam was the first to turn his paper in. Then the girls, Blondie and Doodle Bug. Scout, who being in kindergarten was just learning to read and write at the time, was last.
The votes were in.
I was listening from the kitchen and wondering exactly how MP was going to handle this. He began to unfold the first paper…..
“NO ONE!” he read.
“NO ONE AND THAT’S FINAL!” Said the second one. By now there was some snickering going on.
He opened the third one. “Snowball.” (This was the name of our cat that Sam hated, so everyone knew who had put that one in!)
By now, everyone but Scout was giggling and laughing. Scout really had no idea what was going on and why everyone was laughing, then he blurted out, “What?? Did everyone else vote for Dad, too??”
Peels of laughter rang out from the Peanut Gallery! I was laughing my head off. MP was even cracking up as he unfolded the last paper and read: “DAD.”
“What?” said Scout. “It’s the only word I know how to spell!!”
By now it was hysterical. MP looked over to me for some kind of response to which I simply gave him the “OK” sign and mouthed the words, “That went REALLY well!”
And that, my friends, is how Dad’s and cats get voted out of the family. The democratic process at it’s finest.