Listen here!

Jeff went to pick up Biscuit from day care Thursday, and when he arrived, he noticed one dad and son talking to the teacher and another dad and son standing in the corner having a heart-to-heart.

And seeing as both boys were two of Biscuit's cohorts, Jeff said he figured he needed to stick around and chat with the teacher, too.

And it was a good call.

"Is everything okay?" Jeff asked.

Biscuit went over to say goodbye to one of his classmates, and the teacher explained to Jeff what had happened.

"He is the most polite and respectful kid in this class, but when he joins those other boys, he doesn't listen. And I told him, 'Don't let those other boys get you in trouble. If they're doing something wrong, walk away,'" the teacher said.

"We've been having the same trouble at home with him not listening to us, either," Jeff told her. "We're definitely working on it."

Jeff came home and told me about it, and it really ticked me off.

A couple of weeks ago, at Biscuit's piano lesson, his teacher had to repeat himself several times. Biscuit also interrupted his teacher. And although I would never say it to Biscuit, I was thinking to myself that we might as well have flushed the money for that lesson down the toilet!

At the end of the lesson, Biscuit asked if he could play his teacher's pipe organ.

Jeff and I were still sitting on the couch just around the corner from the music room, and as soon as I heard Biscuit ask about the pipe organ, I couldn't hold my tongue.

"No!" I said.

Biscuit walked around the corner and asked, "But why, Mom?"

"Playing the pipe organ is a reward for having a good lesson, and you didn't have a good lesson tonight," I explained to him. "Your teacher had to repeat himself several times, and you interrupted more than once. Those things are not part of a good lesson."

Biscuit looked at me and tears formed in his eyes.

I got up, walked into the music room and started packing up Biscuit's books. His teacher didn't say a word. Of course, he might've been afraid to!

As we left his teacher's house, I said to Biscuit, "What would happen if you didn't do what your day care teacher told you to do? Or what would happen if you interrupted your teacher during group time?"

"I would get in trouble," Biscuit said.

"Do you realize that your piano teacher is exactly the same as your day care teacher?" I asked him.

Biscuit was quiet for a minute, then said, "I didn't know that." 

Now I have no doubt that he's forgotten all of that, but I'm fully prepared to repeat it on the way to his lesson tomorrow night.

So like Jeff told the day care teacher, Biscuit has had some listening issues lately.

The morning after Jeff talked to Biscuit's teacher, I wanted to remind Biscuit to stay out of trouble.

It was then that I said something that my teenage self would've slapped me for.

"It's way better to stay out of trouble than it is to be cool," I said to Biscuit.

Ugh! It was such a parent thing to say! And like I said, my teenage self would've hated it. But the older Biscuit gets, the more I find myself realizing how dumb my teenage self was!

And to add insult to injury, after I said it, Biscuit skulked out of the room, leaving just Jeff and me. I looked at Jeff for some reassurance, and you know what he did?

He took his index fingers and drew a square in the air!

"You can call me a square if you want, but I'm teaching our kid a lesson," I said.

But he was so busy giggling, I'm not sure he even heard me.

Next time, I'm gonna make HIM do the lecture!