Mr.Pants

Sometimes a seemingly innocent act can turn a situation into a fiasco. Last night, while cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, my oldest son ran in and "pantsed" his little brother. For those of you that aren't familiar with the term, it means to pull someone's pants down. This is all just horseplay between two brothers and everyone was enjoying the evening until in an instant the mood changed. In a retaliatory move, my younger son decided to attempt the same move on his older brother and when he went for the pants, his cell phone fell on the tile floor and cracked the screen. This is when all hell broke lose! Casey went into a teenage rage that put the fear of God into his little brother. Kyle immediately went into the ugly cry and ran to me for coverage. I of course, explained to Casey that it was all just an accident which meant absolutely nothing to him because  he was now without a phone.
In the end, they both went to bed angry at each other. The old adage about never going to bed angry doesn't apply at our house. Sometimes when kids are angry, it's just better for everyone to cool off--especially kids. This morning it was as if it never had happened. They were back to their old usual, playful selves.