Last week, I caught Nate drawing with pen in one of his library books. He knew it was wrong, as he tried to hide it when I walked in. I told him it was wrong to do that and asked what he thought we should do when we had to return the book. His first response was, "Don't tell them!" (as in, Mama, please don't tell the library what I did). I said that no, we would have to tell them, but I would talk to Daddy first. Jon and I decided that Nate would have to bring the book to the librarian himself, tell her what he had done, apologize, and ask how he could make it right. We knew we'd probably have to pay for the book, so we told Nate he will do extra chores around the house to pay us back.
Today we went to the library after school to return our books. The person behind the returns desk was a somewhat-gruff-looking older man, and Nate asked if he could please not talk to him. :) So I looked around and saw a woman at the information desk and told Nate he could go to her. He walked up, said "Excuse me," and opened the book. "I'm sorry I wrote with pen in this book. What do I need to do to make it right?" The lady told him he'd have to go tell the children's librarian. As we were leaving to find her, the first lady smiled at Nate and thanked him for being honest. We found the other librarian, and Nate repeated his apology (word for word). She explained that it ruined the book, and we would have to pay for it. But she also said it was good that he was brave and told the truth.
I paid for the book as we checked out our new ones, and now I have to think of some good houseworky things he can do to earn $15. :)
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4 comments:
I love how you handled that Katie! And thankfully the people also seemed to handle it well.
That was a auper thing to do and I bet he never does that again. L&K N
Precious! I am sending along an idea in email. Tomorrow.
what a great story of how you walked Nate through the repentance and restitution process. xoxo
maybe he could help you sort some things? clean up piles? organize kids toys? you know some of those "to-do"s on your list that aren't essential but are driving you crazy? wondering if there is anything you can make very easy for him to help you such projects. does that make sense? just a thought.
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