My youngest son had a run of trouble the other week. First, the morning of the day before his field trip, he told us that we hadn’t paid for the field trip. With no time left, I had to go in to talk to his teacher. We had paid. He’d just forgotten. On that same day, he forgot to turn in the note saying that he was going home via car instead of bus. As if that wasn’t enough, he also forgot to bring in the special picture he was making for his teacher.

The next morning, about twenty minutes before we were leaving for school, he revealed that he not only hadn’t done three of his homework sheets, but he’d also left his backpack in his mom’s car. I tried to help him finish his homework as we drove to my wife’s work to pick up his backpack.

We made it to school on time. I dropped him off and drove home.

…where I found a voice mail from his teacher telling me he forgot his lunch, and he really needed it for the field trip.

I drove back in to deliver it, and handed it off to the teacher.

She smiled as she took it. “He told me that he’d forgotten his lunch,” she said. “But that the idea of talking to his daddy was very scary for him.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Now that’s the way to get your teacher to call your dad,” she said.

Yes, I’d imagine it would be.

I’m also guessing he was only half-kidding.