Independence

The other day I got a text from Jon toward the end of my work day.  Boys were excited by the late winter snowstorm and were walking over to the sledding hill to meet friends.  They'd be home by 5:30. 

Wow.  Sledding by themselves.  Why had I never thought of that before?  We did it all the time in our youth- most of the time right out the back door in the 'fields' that abbutted our home, but sometimes the crew would head down to the park and the big hill by the 'Green Bugger'- a playground in the woods.  But my boys had always been chaperoned, mostly because the nearest hill was a half-mile yonder. 

When they got home they were wet, exhilerated, and full of stories about the mad mom.  Mad mom?  Apparently they were harangued by a woman who thought they were crowding out her young daughter.  Now, I know my boys do sled aggressively.  They love what they call 'sled wars'- a game that involves jumping from sled to moving sled and trying to throw people overboard.  And I also know that as tweens they are fairly focused on themselves and don't always think of others.  But they also have a lot of young girl cousins and friends and are quite caring.  From their report they had seen the girl in question and had given her wide berth.  Their wide berth clearly was not wide enough.  Sounds like they took the screaming mom fit in stride and politely waited their turns there after.  Or so they report. 

I want to believe them.  I really think this was a case of a mom seeing unchaperoned tween boys and thinking the worst.As a teacher of teenagers, I know that it happens often enough.  This woman was just letting perception trump reality.  Or maybe not.  They very easily could have been wild and endagering others.  But in the end I think their biggest thrill was not sledding in the new snow, but in languishing in the glow of the righteousness of being unjustly accused.