Have you cried wolf…I have

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

There once was a shepherd boy who was bored as he sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. To amuse himself he took a great breath and sang out, “Wolf! Wolf! The Wolf is chasing the sheep!”

The villagers came running up the hill to help the boy drive the wolf away. But when they arrived at the top of the hill, they found no wolf. The boy laughed at the sight of their angry faces.

“Don’t cry ‘wolf’, shepherd boy,” said the villagers, “when there’s no wolf!” They went grumbling back down the hill.

Later, the boy sang out again, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!” To his naughty delight, he watched the villagers run up the hill to help him drive the wolf away.

When the villagers saw no wolf they sternly said, “Save your frightened song for when there is really something wrong! Don’t cry ‘wolf’ when there is NO wolf!”

But the boy just grinned and watched them go grumbling down the hill once more.

Later, he saw a REAL wolf prowling about his flock. Alarmed, he leaped to his feet and sang out as loudly as he could, “Wolf! Wolf!”

But the villagers thought he was trying to fool them again, and so they didn’t come.

At sunset, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn’t returned to the village with their sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy. They found him weeping.

“There really was a wolf here! The flock has scattered! I cried out, “Wolf!” Why didn’t you come?”

An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village.

“We’ll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning,” he said, putting his arm around the youth, “Nobody believes a liar…even when he is telling the truth!”

today was one of those days…The boys were up at 5:45 um…yeah AM…dad kept them busy in Griff’s room for about 40 minutes…for that I am grateful. Then they hit my room running…dad hit the shower and I hid under the covers and pillows….wishing I had more pillows. Now usually, we have a no TV till 7AM. Today though, I caved, curious george was on at 6:45….again AM…and then it is off for the morning unless we manage to get our acts together early then they can play Wii or watch a show.  This is what followed:

After Cruiois George, Spencer told me how he had a headache and still did not feel well…see this post…  I say to him, “your fever free and you were just crazy man with your brother…I think we will go to school and stay in for recess and PE”…the response “but mom, my legs are really sore”…insert puppy dog eyes here. I hold strong…”no, you will be going.” we head down stairs and he eats a small bowl of cereal…unusual, but he is recovering…OK “so Spence if you stay home it is in your room all day with books and legos. That is 6 hours… You come down for lunch and one show afterwards ”  Surely this will change his mind…..”okay mom, that is fine.”…WTF…who is this child…so I call him in sick…natural consquence for what he is about to do…cry wolf…

He does it…he stays in his room all day..plays Lego, and reads books and magazines for 6 hours..(Crap I don’t think I could do that.) He comes down for lunch and heads right back up afterwords…at 3:30 he is allowed to come down and watch a survivorman. This is not to say that he did not ask, on many occasions, to be allowed to come out of his room…he did but really only about 6 times…once an hour…I took the opportunity to remind him of the boy who cried wolf…he knew exactly what I was saying and why I was saying it. He got it…

…he is going to school tomorrow. He will think twice about crying wolf again…he told me so.