Respect and a hot dog

Max loves hot dogs. It is one of his favorite school lunches. We even have a special hot dog container that holds a smidgen of catchup in the middle, separate from the sliced dog pieces that lay around it. He often comes home with lunch left in his bag but never when we send hot dogs. Those get eaten.

Max also loves our friend Dave. Lately we have been cooking for Dave and his family, and since they keep Kosher it has led to some conversations between Max and I about respecting others traditions and needs, even if we don't follow those same traditions.

Some times your kids actually listen to you. Last week, Max attended a science camp which is held in a local Jewish school. The school requested that no pork be sent in camp lunches. We told Max about it, and said that we would honor their request. But on Tuesday, when he came home from camp, he was very hungry. His lunch hadn't been eaten. When Michie asked him why he didn't eat his beloved hot dogs, he stated that he thought they might have been made of pork so he didn't want to eat them.

It makes me so proud to have a son who is willing to forgo his own lunch (all beef hot dogs by the way) in order to respect the traditions of others. We told him the dogs were fine to eat and he dove into his left overs and finished off his lunch at 3PM.

I guess it is just a reminder to me, that what we teach our kids does get through. What is important to me, is passed onto Max. As Max grows up it will be his decision what lessons to keep and which don't work for him. Judging by the young man that he is becoming, that is just fine with me.