Pa, You're Wrong!

Travis (on the left) with his cousin Alex. They were born only a month apart and make quite a team! 

Photo by

  
Samantha Day  

Written by 
LeRoy Walls 
CEO 

I’m "Pa" to Travis, my second of three grandsons. While he was three years old his heroes changed from power rangers to gargoyles. After being frustrated by my references to his heroes as gar-girls and gar-boys he finally responded - "Pa, you’re wrong!" This is a line that has been repeated frequently since that time by Travis and others as well.

I accept being wrong in a kidding way with a grandchild more easily than in other situations. Maybe I’m a little like Fonzie, on the television show Happy Days, who had trouble telling a girl that he loved her - he just couldn’t get the word "love" to come out. Sometimes when I realize that I’m clearly wrong I’ll then say, "this was just a test to see if you were paying attention!"

Sometimes I, and perhaps others as well, aren’t a big enough person to say I was wrong or I caused this. Too often when we’re wrong we instead feel hurt, get defensive or even worse - blame someone else. With the help of Travis, I’m trying to be more willing to admit I’m wrong.

On another occasion Travis was trying to tell me that he wanted a T-shirt with a slogan or logo on it. He said, "Pa, I want one of those shirts that says something." When I responded, "Oh, you want a talking shirt," Travis quickly repeated his favorite line to me - "Pa, you're wrong!"

12/31/1999