Children of nowadays!

What you need to know:

When I told him that the institution that I thought he was referring to is not called Child Services, at least not in this country, he replied, “I don’t care what it’s called, I will report you to ‘those people’, and take you to court.

“If you spank me again Uncle Mike, I will sue you”.
Those were the exact words that found their way to my ears from the mouth of a six-year-old boy who happens to be the first born child of one of my older buddies. This was during my visit to a residence where his father, mother and a few other persons had gathered to catch-up on a lousy Sunday evening.

At one point during our conversation and on the polite interrupting orders of his father, I lightly spanked ‘Mr. Sue me’ repeatedly for what he had done and said.

The whole exercise was turned into a game and the result was the victim laughing his heart out. After the arena spectacle, when all had settled and swords had been laid down (at least that’s what I thought), that’s when the K.O statement pierced my eyes; something about suing me for spanking him.

When I asked him how he intends to do that? He boldly went about how he will contact Child Services; seek court arbitration and blah, blah.

When I told him that the institution that I thought he was referring to is not called Child Services, at least not in this country, he replied, “I don’t care what it’s called, I will report you to ‘those people’, and take you to court.

“And who would represent you?” I asked. “I can’t fail to get a sympathetic lawyer eager to defend the rights of a six-year-old law abiding citizen”, he pressed on. To which I suspicioulsy inquired, “Are you sure you are six years old because I could bet you are much older?” Before he could answer, his mum called out to him with motherly intentions of having him help out in the kitchen. The others didn’t hear much of my conversation with Tom but if they had, I wonder what his dad would have said.

Anyway that colloquy with Tom took me back to the curious case of Rachel Canning, the 18-year-old New Jersey teen who took her parents to the county court suing them for not allowing her to attend private school and for them to be compelled to pay her college tuition. This was after her return from a self deposed odyssey filled with acts and thoughts of an eagerly independent seeking teenager.

Later I joined the others and without hesitation and with immediate effect, I jumped in on the conversation again and tramped over it with mine about Tom suing me and all.

His dad and the others just pushed it aside with laughter but I was still bewildered and at a loss of words by Tom’s level of reasoning considering his age!
Email: [email protected]