Official Home Of BIG Ben Kennedy

My 2 year old son Benjamin has been going to preschool for about 6 months. I remember when he first started, he didn’t always want to go so we would try and get him excited about it. We would get him excited to go by asking questions like, “Where are we driving to?” or “Where are you going tomorrow?”

To which he would always emphatically reply, “School!”

And then we would get all happy for him. Positive reinforcement at it’s finest! And his response was also really cute. Only now, it seems like whenever we ask anything of him, or any question at all for that matter, that is always his first response.

“Hey buddy! Who is that on your shirt?”

“School!”

“What are you eating?”

“School!”

He eventually arrives at the right answer, but most of the time it’s that first response that seems to serve to undermine how smart we talk him up to be.

“Just ask him yourself, he’ll tell you.” we brag to his grandparents.

So they go ahead and ask, “Benjamin, what did you eat for breakfast this morning?”

“School!”

“Did he say school?” they laugh.

Thanks buddy.

I’m sure he’ll grow out of it soon enough, but if he doesn’t, I’ve got to be prepared. And I think I found a way to put it to good use: I’ll take him back home to Baltimore, and make good on one of those, “Next time you’re in town, we should do lunch.” requests of an ex-girlfriend. Of course I’ll take Benjamin along with me on the lunch date. The three of us will have a bite to eat, and Benjamin will charm the hell out of her, and then she’ll say to me, “Wow, Benjamin is such a great kid! You’re a really good father.”

That’s when I reply with, “Yeah, it’s a good thing you saw the light and dumped me when you did. But hey, how were you to know that I would turn out to be a drug free, working class family man and “good father” as you put it, and the guy that you left me for would still be smoking pot everyday and jobless? I mean, we were kids! Isn’t that right Benjamin?”

“School!”

“That’s right Benjamin, she did just get schooled.”

Then I’ll pick him up and put him on my shoulder all Yoda and Chewbacca “Revenge of the Sith” style, and walk out of that McDonald’s feeling vindicated.

Or maybe I should just let some things go.