A crime has been committed under my roof. I haven't written about this incident yet as I've been trying to come to terms with the fact that I know the perpetrator. Well. Very well. I've been told she even looks a little like me. And she should, she's my daughter, the criminal is my 3 year old daughter.
The crime? Irreparably tearing a LIBRARY BOOK to shreds. A school library book, no longer fit for re-borrowing. I'm in shock.
Allow me to present exhibit A....
Shreds I tell you. Very few pages remained in one piece and EVERY page was removed from the cover.
I didn't know the punishment for such a crime. I send her to her room for normal run of the mill household things.... but ripping a library book? Every page! What do I do here?
The time of the crime was 5.30pm. I discovered the scene at 5.32pm. When I came to I removed the small red-head from the room and taped off the area for further investigation (I intended to find EVERY piece of the jigsaw). I put on a stony face and put the girl in the bath, then fed her a sandwich in the kitchen and put her to bed. Saying that I needed a different girl to wake in the morning.
She knew what she had done was wrong. She was tired and wanted to push my buttons. Push them SHE DID.
After she was asleep (which didn't take long) I found the sticky tape... and Operation Jigsaw began... the librarian will never know.....
Hmmmm. I actually think she might notice something's a bit odd.....
So I purchased a new one which now sits in the school library. Its a funny book that we really enjoyed so the sticky taped one now sits on our bookshelf. The taped pages add a little character to the book, make it more precious almost.
A different girl did wake up the next morning who completely understood the GRAVITY of the whole incident. The court has released her on bail but intends to retell the story when an example of how NOT to behave is required.
The moral my children have been taught from this? Tear a library book and you get to keep it.
Well, umm, yes. Good one, Mum.
