Disclaimer: I don't own The Cosby Show
Rudy was mad. Cliff and Claire could both tell that she was mad. It was right after her mom had sent her to her room for not giving them her teacher's note.
"I'M NOT EVER GONNA TALK TO YOU AGAIN," Rudy yelled angrily.
"And why is that honey," Claire asked calmly.
"Because," Rudy said, "You always punish when we don't do what you want us to do and that's mean."
"Oh I see," Claire said, "So you think I'm mean."
"Yes-huh," Rudy said, "Gina's mommy never punishes her."
Gina's mommy also was not interested in her daughter's life and was hardly ever home.
"Really. Well what does Gina's mommy do," Claire asked.
"Nothing," Rudy said.
"Well now do you know why I do what I do," Claire asked, "It's because I love you and I want you to grow up to be a good person."
"But why punishment," Rudy demanded, "Surely there are better ways to handle wrong-doing then punishment. I HATE THAT!"
"Well if you have any better ideas I'm all ears," Claire said calmly.
"Mandee's mommy has a talk with her,"Rudy said, "Nancy's mommy rewards he for good behavior. Benny's mommy at least listens to him when he has an objection."
"The girl does have a point Claire," Cliff said, "My parents used to do something called make-up."
"I love makeup," Rudy said, "Sondra let me wear some of hers."
Claire chuckled.
"No honey. Make-up means that you have to do something to make what you did wrong right," she explained.
"Oh," Rudy said.
"So what do you think you can do to make up for not giving your mom and me the note," Cliff asked.
"Well um... oh I can help you out during the weekend. That would be fun."
"Well sure," Claire said, "But that just makes it up to your father. What about me? How can you make it up to me?"
"I could help you bake cookies," Rudy sugested.
Claire thought about that. Then she had an idea.
"Sure," she said, "How about tomorrow after school?"
"Okay," Rudy said.
"And next weekend I'm going to have you help out with the little babies," Cliff said, "Saturday and Sunday."
"YES!"
Rudy loved babies. She skipped away happily.
...
The next day after Rudy came home from school Clair already had the cooking supplies ready.
"Okay Ruddy," Claire said, "Start off by washing your hands. Then I need you to crack two eggs into the bowl. I want you to pour in the cake batter and measure the sugar. One cup will do."
Rudy happily did what her mother told her to do.
"You like cookies don't you," Claire asked pre-heating the oven.
"Duh," Rudy said.
"Lets pretend that the eggs and the mixer and the sugar is our family."
"Can I be the sugar?"
"Okay," Claire said, "and Sondra and Denise and Theo and Vanessa are the egg and your dad and I are the mix. But what happens if there isn't enough sugar or there's too much?"
"It doesn't taste good," Rudy said.
"You're right," Claire said, "You know in order to be the right amount you have to follow the rules. Those are honesty and listening to the mix. Otherwise it tastes like this."
Claire handed Rudy a cookie which she happily took... and then spit out.
"EW! It's salty," Rudy said.
"Yes," Claire said putting the cookies in the oven.
"I want to be good sugar mommy," Rudy said
Claire hugged Rudy.
...
Everyone loved Rudy's cookies. Her cookies were really good. That was Friday. Saturday she went with Cliff to his place of work. Rudy was excited.
Rudy figured she would be holding the babies or singing to them or rocking them. Nope. Her job was changing dirty diapers. It was gross and later she made it known that it was gross.
"I thought I was going to get to hold them," Rudy said.
Now it was time for another lesson.
"What made you think you would be holding them," Cliff asked.
"You said I could," Rudy scowled.
"Oh so you're saying that I lied to you," Cliff asked.
"YES YOU LIED TO ME," Rudy said.
"And how does that make you feel," Cliff asked.
"Mad," Rudy said.
"and?"
"Sad!"
"And how do you think mom and I feel when you don't tell us the truth or when you hide something from us," Cliff asked.
"Upset," Rudy said.
"Right. So tomorrow you can hold the babies but you also have to help with the diapers too," Cliff explained.
"Maybe I should have just gone to my room," Rudy mumbled.
"No. You learned a very valuable lesson from all of this Rudy," Cliff said, "You learned the importance of being honest."
"I know being honest is important," Rudy said, "But sometimes it gets me in trouble."
"Well now that's true," Cliff said, "But when you lie you get into more trouble then when you tell the truth. Plus you feel bad when you lie."
"I don't like to get in trouble at all," Rudy said.
"You know my parents used to offer me a get out of jail free card," Cliff said, "When I told the truth I wouldn't get into trouble."
"What if you did something really bad," Rudy asked.
"Well then I would get in trouble but I wouldn't get in as much trouble as I did if I told a lie. Sometimes I would even get to pick my own punishment."
"What did you pick," Rudy asked.
"Well normally I would chose to have dinner in my room instead of eating at the kitchen table."
"Oh cool," Rudy said, "That sounds fun."
"Well it's not," Cliff said, "I was lonely when I had to eat by myself."
"Well it's better then listening to a lot of boring conversation."
"You think dinner is boring?"
"Yeah," Rudy said, "I want to talk about TV shows and games and things like that but all you guys ever talk about is big people stuff."
"You see the problem is that you are a little kid," Cliff said, "And mommy and Sondra and Denise and Theo and Vanessa are grown up. So for us grown ups sometimes we forget that it's boring for a kid because we find that stuff interesting. But you're right. We shouldn't ignore your interests. The next time we do that just let us know it's bothering you and we'll try to talk about something that interests you."
"Really. Okay."
"And you know Rudy you're a bright girl. You know how to act right. In fact sometimes you remind me how to act right. Like when I forget the magic word."
"Nu-uh," Rudy said, "You thought the magic word was abracadarbra."
"Okay," Cliff said, "Scissors" "Daddy," Rudy said, "What's the magic word?" "Oh sorry dear. Scissors abracadabra" "No daddy it's please."
Rudy giggled.
"I knew the magic word," he said, "I was just being silly."