Carter Joseph Stallin'

Without fail, bedtime is the most drawn-out part of the day at our house. As soon as we approach 8:34, Carter starts stalling for time.

Why 8:34? When Carter was in kindergarten, his bedtime was 8:30 p.m. We said we'd add a minute each year. So this school year the fourth-grader can stay up until 8:34. So far it's worked. Well, not really. We are lucky if he is even in his bedroom by 8:34.

Something always comes up -- like he forgot to pack something in his backpack. Or forgot to feed the cat. Or forgot to floss. Or forgot to do his push-ups and jumping jacks (that's the new one).

Once he is in bed, then he suddenly has news to tell us. "Mom, look at my knee. I scraped it during recess. Can you put a Band-Aid on it?" or "Mom, is there a lump on my head where I got hit with the soccer ball?" or "I had to go to the office today because I wasn't feeling well."

Wow. All these emergencies. All this news and he waits until bedtime to bring it up, knowing a conversation will ensue and it won't be "lights out" until closer to 9. We try to rush it along but don't want to appear cold and uncaring -- especially when there is an injury involved.

Last night's "injury" was hurt feelings. That was a tough one. You can't restore someone's self-esteem in 15 minutes (despite what you might see on TV). There's also the fact that kids don't care what their parents think. We can tell Carter he's not a dork or idiot -- he's cool -- until we're blue in the face, but it does no good when kids say something to the contrary.

So we kiss him, hug him and wipe away the tears and tell him he's awesome anyway. Then we go to bed and lose sleep, too, wondering how we as parents who "don't know anything" can convince our stalling, bedtime-delaying son that he is the bright spot in the center of our universe. That's one thing we do know.