Contract Dispute

My son and I got into a contractual dispute last night over bedtime. We had both agreed to terms and shook on it. But his understanding of the agreement and my understanding turned out to be worlds apart. We did not have a meeting of the minds.

The cause of the problem is that my wife and I really like True Blood. It comes on at 9:00 EST. My son and I had a very hectic day of tag, laying on the grass and eating pizza. By the time I had gotten V to bed, it was 8:30. P was watching Good Luck Charlie. It was the very special episode where Mrs. Duncan finally has that baby, and I wanted to let him finish it. The only problem was that I would have to then get him into bed by 9. We have a REALLY long and convoluted bedtime ritual that includes reading books, brushing teeth, saying prayers etc. Seriously, it goes on and on.

So I cut a deal. This is what I agreed to. I told him he could stay up and watch the rest of his show if he brushed his teeth and got into his pajamas during the commercial. But then once Good Luck Charlie was over, he would have to jump into bed so I could watch the Vampire Show.

What he agreed to was putting on his pajamas and brushing his teeth…and then he would get to stay up and watch True Blood.

I am not quite sure how this miscommunication happened. But when Good Luck Charlie was over I rushed him off to bed. He was at first genuinely surprised. He was then really pissed off. He was convinced that we had reneged on the deal. He had brushed his teeth during the commercial! He wanted to watch the vampires!

I told him there was no way that was going to happen. I let him sleep in our bed as a consolation prize. It was bad lawyering…and bad parenting