Born Yesterday

So I’ve written up this kid twice already. Before that it was phone calls home to his parents. During this last write-up (for cheating), he wanted to know why I was always picking on him. I replied that I wasn’t quite sure that picking on him was a proper description, and I began to read out his improper behavior and the actions I took, which I had recorded over these weeks.

His response was, “That was all in the past, man!”

Well this isn’t Groundhog Day! If it were, then I should have been laughing a whole bunch more. I wanted to explain to him that there is a reason we have a saying like, history has shown us, or better yet, criminal history. I realize that PlayStation may be this kid’s life (already confiscated two PSP’s from him) but life doesn’t have a restart button that erases everything you previously did.

I didn’t tell him this, though, because teens don’t listen while in argue mode. Instead, I just responded, “You say I’m always picking on you, but that was yesterday, so it doesn’t matter, right?”