What We Have to Look Forward To

During the long winter days I got it in my mind that I had to get my eldest child OUT of the house as much as possible this summer and next winter.  A friend of mine suggested I sign him up for a Kid's Day In at a church in town.  Her daughter is the same age and absolutely loves it.  The program promises to teach about God and give the kids structure and learning activities.  Shoot, I'd take the socializing part for him, period.  I signed him up for two days this summer, and had planned on picking more days as we went.  Well, the first day he was all, "I'm going to school!" Happy, happy.
When I dropped him off he didn't want to clip his name tag on, but once I showed him that all the other kids had one, he was fine. I also had to tell him Cruz and I would be waiting for him out in car to convince him that he'd be fine without me.  And when I picked him up all the kids were carrying out pictures they had colored.  I asked Bo if he forgot his picture and the teacher says, "Oh no, Bo didn't want to color a picture."  Hmm...alright.  But like I said, if that was the worst of it, I'd say it was a success. 
On the ride home Kelly and I were eagerly trying to get some info out of him about how his day went and what they all did. 
Silence.
Not a word.
I think it took until we finally made it home when I asked him if he saw any fish in the science room that he told me the science teacher let them all pet a snake.  We didn't hear anything else about school until that night at bedtime when he spilled his guts to Kelly about how Mrs. Jons made him dance in the music room.  He said that he asked her if he could sit on the bench and watch and she said no, that he had to dance.  Aww...I can only imagine!  He also complained that he was never going back because some guy made yucky ice cream.  Hmm?  Another science activity maybe.
Well, about a week later, the second day I had signed him up for rolled around.  The previous day I had mentioned that he'd be going to school tomorrow.  All hell broke loose.  He did NOT want to go.  I tried to entice him by getting him some good snacks to pack in his lunch box.  That worked for about two seconds. Kelly and I went back and forth asking ourselves, "Should we make him go?  Should we not make him go?" 
At bedtime the night before that second day he could not fall asleep.  Finally, I went in there and said he didn't have to go if he didn't want to.  I told him he could decide in the morning.  So...morning rolls around, I'm not rushing around or anything, I mention school and he pretty much says no way.  I give it a few more minutes and tell him Mrs. Jons and the other kids will be wondering where he is.  Still no way.  I tell him he can't eat the good snacks in his lunch box. Oh well.
THEN, about 10 minutes before school is suppose to begin Bo starts getting dressed.  I'm like, "Watcha doing bud?" 
He replys, "I guess I'm getting ready for school."
What!?!
I'm like, "Well, you'd better hurry because you're going to be late!"
So Kelly whisks him off, getting him to school about 20 minutes late. Kelly said Bo tried to talk him out of it again on the way, and Kelly said heck no since they were already on their way.  When we picked the little stinker up he wanted to stay because they were watching a video and he wanted to see the end, but he actually said he had fun and probably wanted to go back sometime.  He also said he danced for a little bit too :)
But he was totally embarrassed and ready to get the hey out of there when I was trying to take his picture outside his classroom.

So, I don't know if I should say I'm exactly looking forward to the next 15 years or so of getting his hiney out of bed and trying to make the right decisions when he's trying to get out of doing something.  I can tell this parenting thing is only going to get tougher.