No Ninjas

We got my son's report card. He is in kindergarten and has struggled with keeping his hands to himself, respecting others, disrupting the class, not listening, not following directions ... yet, he is incredibly bright. His first report card reflected both of these attributes. He got all fantastic grades in subject areas and then the conduct grades: N in class, N in music, N in Art. Each day he brings home a face representing his conduct that day. He gets a smiley face if he's been good, a dot face (dot for a mouth) if he's been corrected twice, a line face if he's been corrected four times, or a sad face (which he has not gotten). Slowly the string of smiley faces has increased ... 2 in a row ... 3 in a row ... 4 in a row ... 5 in a row (his Aunt Jen got him a prize for the monumental feat). Recently, we got to 7 in a row.

So, on this recent report, we got all "S's" in conduct. And we celebrated!!!

Then it happened. The little girl would not share her crayons. My son did not use his manners, he did not tell the teacher, he took action. We came home with a note and a dot face.

As part of his corrective measures, we asked him to write the little girl an apology letter. He likes to write and began drafting the letter. My wife asked him what he was doing, as she could not make out what he was writing/drawing. He replied that he was drawing a ninja. To which my wife said, "We don't draw ninjas on apology letters." It struck me as funny. Who goes into parenting thinking that some day they will put together that sentence, "We don't draw ninjas on apology letters."

I guess ninjas on a letter would not convey sorrow for an action. His ninja (which he drew after completing the apology letter without illustrations) was quite good -- better than my ninja could ever hope to be.

BIT: How often do our apologies contain a ninja? Sometimes we know we should apologize but really don't feel like it was completely our fault. It's like we want to say, "I'm sorry, but ...". Can there be "buts" in an apology? Jesus was teaching about what to do when a brother or sister wrongs you. Peter trying to get his mind around what Jesus was teaching asked a question:

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive
someone who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you,
not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

No, Jesus didn't address the question about the appropriateness of ninjas in an apology. But I'm thinking he would say what my wife said, "We don't draw ninjas on apology letters." And, if by chance we get an apology letter with a big ninja on it. Forgive, "not just seven times, but seventy-seven times." But make sure you keep the ninja. You never know if the artist might become famous.