Fence Update

Well, our neighbors came by and fixed our fence the morning after my wife's previous post. All is well now, though there was never any explanation on why they were 48 hours late repairing the damage. Shan and I were both a little peeved at the time (as you could tell by Shannon's post!), but we're over it.

I'm hoping the children next door learned a good lesson from this whole debacle, but I really don't know. Shan and I both talked about how we would have dealt with the situation had Cavan and/or Kellyn done something similar. At lot would depend on their ages, of course, but I think it's safe to say that the following would happen:

1) A good old-fashioned scolding, followed by a dialogue (not a lecture) on the importance of respecting other people's property. We would tie in the Christian virtue of justice in some fashion.

2) A personal apology to the offended party both from my wife and myself, but especially from our child/children, regardless of age.

3) A monetary penalty to offset the cost of the repairs. Obviously, a 5-year old with a dollar/week allowance can't help much financially, but they can sacrifice what they do have.

4) The child would help fix the fence/whatever. Even if they couldn't do much, they would do something, and they would be present the entire time that the project was happening.

5) Loss of certain/all privileges for an appointed time.


In this way, the child not only acknowledges his wrong actions, but also apologizes for his actions, asks for forgiveness, and then makes reparations for his actions.

Hey, it's just like the Sacrament of Reconciliation!

: )