I think for the first time since my children were born, I actually, consciously have taken note of the fact that they are not always going to be little boys.

Maybe it was when my oldest astutely observed last evening, that those guys down at the Harris County jail, must be bumbling goofs like Enos from the Dukes of Hazzard series. The kid hit the nail on the head with that one!

I heard the words from him last weekend that I'm sure all parents dread hearing for the first time. "Dad, I got pulled over today". You parents of teenagers are probabably snickering and thinking -welcome aboard, Pilot. Problem is he wasn't kidding - it was a Sheriffs cruiser, lights and all. Oh yeah, did I mention my son's age?? He just turned TEN.

Truth is, he was just semi-busted for driving his go-kart on the street, less than a block down our cul de sac from our home, and his debt to society this time, amounted only to having to push it home. Fortunately for me, I was away from the house when this happened. I'm quite sure, I would have responded in a manner that would not have been interpreted in favorable light by the officer - something along the lines of "why aren't you sitting behind my fence with a radar gun popping these folks doing 85 in a 30 on Morton Road, or busting some perverts and crack dealers in the park"? Yep, good thing I wasn't there at the time.

I tend to, in the heat of the moment, forget that after I roast him for "bullying my baby", that he's still got the gun and the ticket book and now he'll have my picture taped to his visor for the next year. I mean, he's welcome to cruise down my street to check on our safety from time to time, but why not leave the go kart enforcement division to the Yard Nazis so I can ignore them like I do the letters they send me about the wrong font on my street address numbers.

Back to the kids growing up too fast. Is there an age at which I should stop calling home every morning before they start their day to wish them a good one and tell them I love them?

In a way, I am kind of glad I waited until a later age to have kids, or as the Loon put it "I'm raising my own grandkids". At least this way I'll have my sister and sister in law to turn to for guidance. I might get a less dated approach to child rearing than having to ask my folks. Not that their advice would be bad - I just think the Spongebob and Fairly Oddparents generation is going to require a bit more creativite parenting to get a focus on reality than the Howdy Doody and Rin Tin Tin, and Captain Kangaroo bunch did.