Payback

When I was young, though not as young as this story would suggest, I made up a game for my siblings and I to play in the car.  The whole game consisted of having the kids on the left side of the car look at the houses on the left side of the road, and the kids on the right side watch the houses on the right-hand side.  If a house we passed had a porch, we were to yell out "Porch!"  and if not, we yelled "No porch!"  And if it had a nice big porch, we shouted, "PORCH!!" really loud.  Such a sophisticated game, right?

It's amazing to me that this did not single-handedly drive my parents completely bonkers.  (I'm pretty sure it drove them partially bonkers... with some lasting effects...  Just kidding.  Mostly.)  My obnoxiousness was equally amazing.

Well now I am getting my turn on the other side of the annoying games.  There have been no shortage of nonsensical, repetitive, or irritating shenanigans instigated by this next generation I am raising... but what really gets me is how young they start in with them!

A few years ago, before he had even mastered speaking more than 5 words, Colsen created the "Trash" game.  Every time we walked past any sort of garbage receptacle, or any other plastic item that could possibly be used as such, he would yell out "Trash!" and keep repeating the chant until I finally acknowledged and agreed with him.  The neighbors would see me just bobbing my head and saying, "Yes, trash can," over and over every time I walked by their houses.

Gradually the game subsided... but only to be replaced with the "Garage" version.  This time it's Milo's creation, and it's just as draining.  Now, whenever we walk or drive past a house, he points out loudly whether it has an "opy-grage!" (open garage) or "cose-grage" (closed garage).  And again, my participation is absolutely necessary on each occasion.  If I do not repeat the declaration, I am penalized with ever-increasing decibel levels until tantrums develop  (in which case all game participants lose).

Apparently the obnoxious-game-creating gene did not stop with me.  These apples have not fallen far from the tree.  You know -- the tree beside the trash can in front of the opy-grage near the nice big PORCH!