Misunderstanding

I adore my youngest boy.

Today, he was sad when he came home from school. He'd taken a Yu-gi-oh card to school to show a friend and I'd put it in his backpack for him. He watched me do it. But he couldn't locate it at school. He was so upset that he hadn't been able to show it to his friend, David.

"That's okay," I said, "You can try again tomorrow."

"No, I can't!" he said.

"Why not?" I said. "You have school tomorrow."

"Mom! I don't. Look in my folder."

Then he got out his red folder that the teacher sends home every day with the day's homework and other papers. I opened it and saw the new homework for the day. The completed homework from yesterday. Nothing else. He pointed and said, "See?!"

I said, "Honey, I don't see anything."

"Mom, right there! It says Stay Home."

Sure enough, it did say "Stay Home" on one pocket of the folder. On the other pocket of the folder, it says, "Bring Back." This is so we know which papers should stay home and which ones he needs to bring back. I laughed.

"Sweetie, that just means those papers are supposed to stay home!"

He looked so relieved and wiped his eyes. Tragedy averted. (The perils of learning to read!)