Today’s post is a guest blog by Martin King as a part of his #100blogfest. You can read more of Martin’s work at http://martinkingauthor.com/blog/7094550076 .
As kids we had to often refer to plan b. You see adults never got it. They never seemed to understand a kid’s lot in life! They were always making rules and placing restrictions on us for no obvious reason.
And then there was that unrepeatable word – punishment.
The amount of times I ended up being sent to bed early over nothing. But one of my parent’s punishments was the withdrawal of TV watching privilege. Often I would be banned from watching it for a night. But what they didn’t count on was a child’s superior intellect.
Also in our living room was a huge five foot fish tank. The long tank sat opposite the television. So on nights when I had been banned from watching it, I would sit and watch the fish instead, or so my parents thought.
You see kids are a lot smarter than an adult gives them credit for. So what if we can’t do sums or know the answer to which king this… etc. It’s not because we were thick, but because we weren’t interested.
Now do you really think I would sit and watch the tropical fish swim up the tank and back down again, and up the tank??? Of course not! I was actually watching the reflection of the TV in the glass. I once had to watch a whole FA Cup final using my cunning method. Although it wasn’t ideal, it meant I still got to see the match.
So clever clogs, how did you outsmart your parents?
These blogs are all about fun and sharing. Thank you for reading a ‘#100blogfest’ blog. Please follow this link to find the next blog in the series: http://martinkingauthor.com/blog/7094550076
My biological parents were both bright so I am not sure that I ever actually outsmarted them. I did however take advantage of the fact that they were busy dealing with high maintenance daughters. I would simply do things and nit tell them. My adoptive dad reads me like a book so I never try to outsmart him. I always told him what I was up to.
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Thanks for the comment, JH. Great wisdom in knowing what you can and cannot get away with.
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I think you’re absolutely right, Max. When my daughter pulled stuff on me, I’d done most of it myself. Same with her sons. Probably always been this way.
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I think as children we believe we can outsmart our parents. They are more aware of what we were doing than we knew. No TV was a punishment in my house. That meant we had to find other things to do, which led to me being an avid book reader.
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