Chapter 7

Later that evening, Ron announced that they were going to the pizza parlor. He told everyone to be ready in twenty minutes and reminded Aidan that he needed to make himself a PB&J to take with him. At the pizza parlor, Ron had ordered two family sized pizzas and got everyone including Aidan a drink.

At the table, Aidan asked, "Hey dad? Can I go ahead and eat since my dinner is already made." Ron said, "Suit yourself."

Aidan then opens the bag and pulls out his sandwich. Connor then pulls his own sandwich out of the bag followed by Logan. They started to eat and Ron was perplexed. "Logan, Connor? Are you guys gonna have any pizza?"

Logan had to swallow first before answering. He first looks at Connor and tells his dad, "No. We're really enjoying these sandwiches." The three sons just talk among themselves ignoring their parents, laughing and giggling and just having fun.

The pizza came and the server placed both pizzas on the table in front of Ron. The boys never even looked up or cared that there was pizza. They have finished their sandwiches and Logan says to their parents, "We're going to hit the arcade. Enjoy you pizza, Dad." The boys leave and Logan puts his arms around both Aidan and Connor and tells them that he'll be paying for the games.

Ron was astounded. "What is up with these kids? I don't know what they're trying to pull, but….. well, more pizza for us." Ron takes a piece and takes a huge bite out of it. Barbara doesn't say anything and opens her purse and pulls out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and starts eating it without looking at Ron.

Ron stares at Barbara and is deciding how he should respond to his wife's actions. Obviously she is silently challenging his authority in punishing Aidan. They are usually on the same page when dealing with the kids. They had agreed long ago that if one parent gives a punishment, the other parent can't take it away. Also, if a child asks mom and she says, "no", they cannot go to dad and ask the same question because it's already a "no". If they try, then the punishment is double. No pitting one parent against the other. "Enough of this." Ron thinks.

"Okay, Barbara. I see what's going on here, so just come out with it."

Barbara just shrugs her shoulder's and asks, "What ever are you talking about Dear. I'm just sitting here enjoying my sandwich." She pulls off a piece and plops it into her mouth.

"Barbara!" Ron says rather sternly. "Be honest with me. We seam to be at a disagreement here with the kids. Don't play games with me, and tell me honestly what is on your mind."

She puts down her sandwich and takes a sip of her soda. "Okay, Ron, I'm going to be very honest with you. First, when kids are small, we give out punishments basically to keep them safe. We can't afford to let natural consequences happen to a child who runs out into the street. When they grow older, we are trying to modify their behavior so that they will succeed in life and not be rude little asses."

Ron chuckles when he hears his wife say, "little asses". She continues. "Our best tool in our toolbox when dealing with teenagers is that they understand that there are natural consequences to their actions. For example, if they are late to school, they get detention. If they cheat on a test, they get an F. If they get an F, they have less privileges at home and school. We don't punish Logan or Sam, because they are adults and can be reasoned with. Also, they have to live with the consequences of their actions."

"Barb!" Ron stops here from going any further. "I know all of that. We have agreed on all this before. But what I am feeling is that you are not supporting me right now." He gets up and refills his soda. He comes back, sits down and grabs another piece of pizza.

"Listen Ron. I will not undermine your authority and change the punishment. Only you can amend that. But that doesn't mean that I have to agree to it and I don't. Aidan is a teenager and what we are trying to do is to modify behavior and hand out natural consequences. He is a changed kid. He is respectful, kind and loving. He hasn't been rude, talked back, given us the stink eye. He has accepted his punishments with dignity and respect. You heard what Sam said. Aidan has been going through a lot of stuff. He was hurting and we didn't see it. If we had been more on the ball, we could've avoided their confrontation and just talked with him. We all have a part in this mess."

Ron is listening. He asks, "So are you saying that he shouldn't be punished for what he did?"

"I'm not saying that Ron. What I am saying is that the punishment should be productive. Right now, he thinks that you hate him and quite frankly, your actions have reinforced that."

"Hey now, that's not fair! I don't hate Aidan! He's my son and I… I, I love him."

"Then act like it Ron. Remember when Logan was 16 and took the car without asking and hit a parked car? You were upset with him and so was I. But the first thing you did was give him a hug and asked him if he was okay. Then you told him that you loved him and that we would get through this. You talked with him. You told him why there are rules and it was because you wanted him to be safe. There were natural consequences like he had to appear before the court. Remember he wore a tie and talked respectfully to the judge and said 'yes sir'? The judge saw that we were there to support our son and said that Logan was a fine young man that made a mistake. He took pity on him and just had him attend driving school. He thanked the judge and hugged us both and thanked us both for being there for him. I saw that the judge had a big smile on his face. Logan didn't get away with it and he learned from his mistake. Sure, he had to gain back our trust and couldn't drive for a couple of weeks and then only modified driving. He also had to pay for the damages and got a part time job. It was a positive experience. Think about it Ron. Has this been a good or bad experience between you and Aidan?"

The drive home was quiet as far as the parents were concerned. The boys were reliving how ironic it was when they were playing air hockey. Logan beat Connor, Connor beat Aidan and Aidan beat Logan. They had all won and all lost. The important thing was that they had fun. At home, Ron had brought the boxed up left over pizza and announced to everyone that if anyone wanted pizza, they were welcome to it. Barbara asked if that meant Aidan too and Ron said yes. He also told Aidan that since they got home late that he would have an extra hour to get to bed.

"Thanks, Dad." Aidan said, then he put a couple of slices of pizza on a plate. He stopped and walked over to his father and gave him a hug. "I really appreciate that, Dad."

Ron was somewhat stiff at first, then his heart was softened and he put his arms around his son. Then he heard something he wasn't expecting. "I love you, Dad." Ron's heart just melted like butter and he tightened the embrace with Aidan. A tear flowed down Ron's cheek and with soft voice he said, "I love you too, son." He kissed the top of Aidan's head and excused himself and went to his den.

About a half hour later, Ron emerged from his den. Sam was there and she brought over root beer. Barbara had got out the ice cream and they were getting ready to make root beer floats. By the way, all of the pizza had been devoured. Aidan was cleaning up the pizza boxes, Connor was playing with Chewy, and Logan was setting up the glasses for the tasty treat. Barbara was scooping the ice cream, and Sam was pouring the root beer. Ron had a warm feeling come over him as he observed his family. Barbara was first to see Ron.

"Hi, Honey. Would you like to join us for some yummy root beer floats?"

Ron came over and stood between Sam and his wife. He put his arms around his two special girls and said, "There is nothing in this world that I would rather do at this moment." He gave Barbara a sweet kiss on the lips.

They sat around the table and Ron said that he had something to say. "Aidan, this mostly concerns you. About yesterday, I was very angry at you and I acted out of anger. I even poked you in the chest and I knew that it would hurt. I just knew you had to be punished and I was the person to do it. Even though the altercation was mostly with Connor and you two worked things out, I still felt the need to come down hard on you. That was wrong of me. Even though Sam had told us that you were going through issues, but it didn't matter to me. That was another mistake on my part. Still, you accepted your punishment with dignity and respect. You showed a great deal of maturity. What bothered me the most was when you Mother told me that you asked her if I hated you."

Ron lowers his head and rubs his eyes. With a shaky voice, Ron says, "I could never hate you. I could never hate any one of you guys. Aidan? You are my son and I love you. If I made you feel for one second that I didn't, I am truly sorry and I ask for your forgiveness."

Barbara reaches over and grabs Ron's hand. Logan also speaks up after putting his arm around Aidan. "We all love you, Aidan. I know I'm guilty in not letting you know that often enough. I even kinda like you, Sam."

"Aw!" Sam says. "That's probably the nicest thing you ever said to me. I kinda, sorta, like you too."

Everyone laughs. Aidan then asks, "Does this mean that I'm no longer grounded?"

"That's right," Ron says. "I'm sorry for poking you and I'm going to find a way to make this up to you."

"Really?" Aidan says. "In that case, what I would really like is to have the whole family play Monopoly right here and right now."

So family game night began and they played until 12:30am with Sam being the victor. Aidan had never been happier.