Jansen Lucks Out

There comes a time in every parent's life where they find out that their child is not perfect. This week Jansen morphed into a teenager and actually was irresponsible. As you know I use these blog entries as our journal/family yearbook. I promised to keep it real so I have to write this. In no way does this take away what a great kid Jansen is and continues to be! Thankfully, we all are entitled to second chances!

Monday, Jansen overslept and missed track practice. Other kids have had to sit out the next track meet, but because this was a first time, the coach accepted his apology and there was no penalty. Then on Saturday he missed the bus to the track meet. I feel like it was partially my fault because we had stayed up late with our friends the Gwynns and the Alberts. We had a BBQ to break in our new deck and as usual lost track of time. We had asked Jantz when he was supposed to catch the bus. I thought it strange that he kept changing the time throughout the evening. He started out by saying that it was at 6:45am and then gradually led us to believe it wouldn't be till 7:45am.

He made little effort to get ready on time Saturday morning and sauntered out the door thinking he would probably make it to the school right before the bus left. Joe drove him to the Jr High and found the bus had already left. Jansen was devastated! Joe, being a former coach, knew that you could not compete if you didn't travel with the team on the bus. He brought a very frustrated Jansen home and then took off to run errands. I tried to talk to Jansen but he was uncommunicative. I thought it was probably best to leave him alone. My heart broke for him. I called Joe and asked if we should still try to drive him to the meet and see if the coach would make an exception but Joe was firm on making sure that Jansen learned responsibility.

Once Jansen decided to talk to me he expressed his concern that he had told his friend Dillon, who was also at the BBQ, the wrong time. He called Dillon's cell phone and found out that Dillon had made it on time and Jansen had missed the bus by 4 minutes. Dillon was standing by one of the coaches and asked if Jantz could still compete. Coach Anderson has known Jansen since we moved here and was wondering where he was. He said the track meet wasn't going to start for almost 45 minutes so there was time for Joe to run him up to Florence.

Jansen called Joe to let him know of the turn of events. Even though Joe was not happy with Jansen getting off that easy, he agreed to drive him up. I guess Joe gave him the silent treatment for the first 10 miles until Jansen was really squirming and feeling guilty. They opened the lines of communication and had a great talk. The two decided that although the coach was not imposing a penalty that he needed to learn a lesson. And so Jansen was required to pay the amount of gas money needed to drive him which right now is a hefty $15. This alleviated Jansen's guilt and made him feel responsible for his actions.

When they arrived at the meet, Jansen had to go apologize to his coach and then check back in with Joe. He was on time for his events although he did not perform as well as he thought he would. Again...a little bit more sleep could have helped. The only reason that Jansen was allowed to participate is because of his history of being responsible, trustworthy, hard-working, and just an all around great kid. He definitely lucked out but learned his lesson. While I was still assuming that Jansen would not be able to participate, I couldn't believe how helpless I felt. I knew that his choices and actions had consequences that were important to learn but it was hard seeing him hurt with embarrassment and frustration. I am thankful that his coaches gave him a second chance but more thankful that he learned a valuable lesson. I doubt he will ever miss a bus again!
love, allie