The Police

For whatever reason, Seth is scared to death of the police. Not only is he scared of the police, he is scared of his idea of going to jail. I don't know what has created these ideas in his little head, but have jumped all over the opportunity to use his fear to our advantage ( mean parents:).)

I found out about Seth's fear a few months ago when he went on a preschool field trip to "Build a Bear." My friends took him along with them because I had something else going on.

The field trip went as you might imagine: making a bear followed by lunch at the mall. While Seth and his pals piled into my friend's car, Seth proudly pulled a package of silly bands from his pocket to show off. Immediately, his friends were gasping, "where did you get those, did you steal them?" My friend overheard the conversation and asked Seth where he got them.

By this time, Seth realized that he was in trouble. He had stolen the sillybands. He started to cry--loudly. While crying, he also began negotiating with my friend begging her to "not tell my mom, we can just go back to Build a Bear and give the silly bands back and NOT tell my mom." They were already almost home and my friend had decided that I should decide what to do.

In the meantime, Seth and his friends had decided that he was going to have to go to jail. As soon as Wade walked in the door from school, Seth told him that, "he was going to jail." Wade was totally into this and had to hear every detail of the story. Both Wade and Seth wanted to know if Seth really would have to go to jail?

I told Seth that it was going to be up to the "Build a Bear" manager whether or not he had to go to jail. I told him that we would go to "Build a Bear" first thing in the morning and return the silly bands (my dad thought it was mean that I would wait until the next day--he worried that Seth would be worried sick all night.)

Right at 10am, the next morning, we went back to "Build a Bear." Seth had rehearsed what he was going to say to the manager and was ready. He nervously waited for his turn to talk to the manager. When he got his turn, he said what he had planned. He also asked her if he had to go to jail. The manager was really cute with him.

She thanked him for being honest and bringing them back. She even rewarded him for returning the silly bands by giving him one of her silly bands off her wrist. He was so excited, but most of all relieved. You could tell that the weight of the world was lifted from his shoulders (poor little guy.)
Seth's happy supporters, were glad for him too. Later that day, when Wade walked in from school, the first thing he said was, "whoo hoo, Seth, you didn't have to go to jail!" This was a good lesson learned for Seth, but also for Wade and both of their friends.

Since then, Matt and I have been able to use the police thing to our advantage. Whenever Seth is acting really naughty, throwing a tantrum or tries to tell a fib, I just tell him that I am going to call the police and have them come over to talk about it--works like a CHARM every time. I love it.

It will be a sad day when Seth realizes that he won't go to jail for telling his mom a lie or teasing his brother, but in the meantime, I will be using it.