The meanest mom in the world

#1 Son got in trouble at school today. This is the second day in a row and not the first time this month. He was told yesterday that he would not be allowed to go trick or treating if he got in trouble today.

I try to balance being a good parent and being a person. I really really wanted to let him go trick or treating tonight but I said that he could not if he got in trouble. What was I going to do?

I finally decided that he was allowed to wear his costume and follow us door to door but he would not be allowed to receive any candy. This seemed like a fair compromise to me. He still got to do the special part of being at strangers homes but not the candy part which drives me crazy to start out with.

This was going well until he started announcing at every door that he was not allowed to have candy. His mom said so. People were very confused when his mother was standing right there and allowing his younger sibling to get candy but not him. I had to keep saying, "Why aren't you allowed to get candy?" To which he would tell them that he got in trouble at school today.

I was shocked at the number of people who gave me a dirty look and even more shocked by the number of people who still tried to give him candy even after they heard this exchange. The most unbelievable to me was the man who told my son to take the candy and eat it when I was not looking. I wished that I had brought a dozen eggs with me or some toilet paper for his house.

I wasn't trying to be mean. I just want him to learn a lesson. You can not be naughty in school and then get to do special things at home. I felt like I was already compromising so much by just allowing him to come along. I really wanted to have him just go sit in his room but I still wanted to be nice.

I do appreciate the neighbor that told him that his mommy was right. She also told him that she knew that he would listen to his teacher tomorrow because school was so important. The winner for the night would be the neighbor Barb who wanted to know if it was OK with Mommy, if he did well in school tomorrow, she would save him some candy to try again a different day. That's a compromise that I can live with.