2nd Chances

In life, and sometimes in love, people want 2nd chances.
My son is known for asking for 2nd chances. Every time there is is a punishment or a "consequence" to be carried out, there is pleading for 2nd chances.
As much as I want to be merciful, the lessons will not be learned or reinforced if I'm too much of a pushover. This month's article for Weekly Biz is just about that.
Happy reading!

2nd Chances

Recently I got a new cell phone and after it was activated, I noticed that all my old voicemail messages had transferred over. I had saved some of my kids’ messages when they were a lot younger. They still had their baby voices and it’s so cute. One message in particular made me laugh. It was my son when he was around 8 years old. My Dad was watching them after school while I was working. They are supposed to be doing homework and practicing their music. Those are the rules. No TV or video games after school, too.  My Dad told me that both my kids had broken the rules by watching TV so when I got home, as a punishment, I had them write 1000x “I will obey Mommy’s rules and not watch TV during school nights”. 

My 9 year old daughter went to her room and after a short time; handed in her 1000 sentences.  My son took longer so I had him complete it the next day. While I was at work the next day, he came home and left me a voice message. “Mommy, I want you to know that I did not watch TV after school today. Can I have a second chance?  If you let me stop writing, I will obey your rules, clean my room, wash the dishes after dinner and I promise not to watch TV after school on school nights.  I love you, Mommy.”  He sounded so sad.

Sometime in the future, people will have a 2^nd chance with their teeth. Adults have a complete set of teeth by the time they are 12 years old. Instead of living with one set of damaged or repaired adult teeth for the rest of their lives, having to deal with old root canals, bridges, dentures, implants, all of a sudden, a new set would come out and we would have a chance to do better. All the people who did not take care of their 1^st set of adult teeth could now have a 2^nd chance. Brand new white teeth as a 50 year old!

Unfortunately, that is not true. Like my son that left the sad voicemail, there were no 2^nd chances with his punishment that day and there are no 2^nd chances with a new set of adult teeth. My senior patients tell me that if they had known how important teeth are as they got older, they would have taken better care of their teeth while they were younger. Some people wish they have 2^nd chances with their teeth. In the future, they may be able to. Just not right now.