Rational

My son likes to reason with me. Of course, his form of reasoning is as only an 8 year old can reason. He becomes angry and throws his hands up in the air and begins his sentence with "OH, MY GOOOOSSSHHH!" then the reasoning begins. Not so long ago, he wanted a cell phone. I totally can understand kids having cell phones when it is necessary for transportation issues or emergencies. I explained this to him and that he has no reason to have a cell phone at this time. So began the reasoning "OH, MY GOOOSSSHHH! ALL of my friends have cell phones, Mommy! One if them even has an iPhone!" (yeah, right!) since he really couldn't finish this line of reasoning with the outcome that he wanted, he gave up...but only for a short while.
We recently moved to a different elementary school district. During this transition, My son was going to latchkey in the morning before school and my husband was going to pick him up from school at the end of the day. I don't know why I thought that I could just instruct my son to meet my husband outside of the school instead of riding the bus. looking back, I think to myself..."Wow! how safe would that have been!" but I wasn't thinking very rationally at the time and my husband didn't catch it either.
The time had come for my husband to pick up my son at the end of the school day and for my son to meet my husband outside of the school. He didn't show up. My husband waited and waited and as the buses were pulling out of the parking lot, it dawned on him..."I bet they put him on the bus!" My husband followed the buses to our old house; sure enough, since my son didn't have a note stating that he was to be picked up from school, the staff made him ride the bus - to a vacant house.
My son was bawling his eyes out, and rightfully so! How could I have missed that! How could I have not "known" that I needed to give him a note NOT to ride the bus home that day? I felt horrible. My husband followed the buses to the old house and retrieved my son from what could have been an absolute mess! When my son got off the bus and saw my husbands vehicle he opened the car door and said "OH MY GOOOSSSHHH! I NEED A CELL PHONE! IF I WOULD HAVE HAD A CELL PHONE, I COULD HAVE CALLED YOU AND TOLD YOU THAT I WAS ON THE BUS!"
My husband heard about the necessity of my son having a cell phone all the way home. My eight year old had found his line of reasoning and wasn't going to let it go, he had us just where he wanted us and he knew it well! He play by play recaptured every minute of the past 15 minutes of this traumatic experience and explained how having a cell phone would have eliminated this situation. ( I think he actually used those words, he has an amazing vocabulary.)
Ironically, I did eventually purchase my son a cell phone with very strict limitations (he is only 8.) I let him pick out what phone he wanted and even downloaded songs for his listening enjoyment. Only as an 8 year old would do, he has moved on to bigger and better electronic gadgets and half of the time doesn't even know the whereabouts of his cell phone...go figure! I am just waiting for the next stream of rationality that is going to guilt me into purchasing a big ticket item, like in 8 more years, when he wants a car!