Ding Dong Ditching

Sounds kinda naughty, doesn't it? LOL.

I bet you did it when you were a kid.

I'm not sure that I did but I knew kids who did it.

I'm talking to Shane yesterday and he starts telling me that he and his houligan friends from the neighborhood have been ding dong ditching.

ME: What's ding dong ditching?

SHANE: You know what it is, mom. It's when you ring the door bell and run for the ditches. DING DONG DITCHING...get it, mom?

ME to myself: Resist the urge to snicker. Can not resist...

Shane continues on with his confession. Although, he doesn't yet realize that he's confessing to anything. He just keeps blabbering because he's all proud of himself.

SHANE: Yeah. It's me, Marcus and Rachel. But, it's mostly Marcus. We told him that he shouldn't run from the house into the middle of the cul-de-sac because then they'll see you. Instead, we told him to run to the side of the house - away from where the parents can see you.

ME: Well, that's true, son. Are you doing it too?

SHANE: Nope. I just watch the others.

Now, I'm thinking to myself, should I have this long drawn out conversation with him about following the crowd, doing what's right and lecturing him about not disturbing other people with that kind of stuff?

Nah. I decide that the fact that he's telling me what they're doing is far more valuable than that so I just tell him that they shouldn't be doing that.

Besides the fact, I'll tell my friend Emily (Rachel's mom) who will bust them doing it and then he won't feel betrayed and will keep telling on himself.

Or, better yet, I'll let them wake me up from my nap one Saturday or Sunday. THAT will teach them a lesson about doing that stuff.

So, if ya'll thought that Owen was my only juvenile delinquent, think again. Shane's just unassuming. He's the dangerous one - not Owen.

And, that's okay. I'll just reserve two spots in military school instead of one.