As a student, I did fairly well.  Sort of the 3.0 type that had potential, but never really fully applied himself.  Why?  Well, I enjoyed being silly a little too much.  Just sort of clowning around.

This never held me back in life, but somehow it always seems as if a little less clowning and a little more focus might produce some better results for society, as a whole.  I actually sometimes viewed it as an attribute, as long as it was controlled properly.  I was even duly elected “Battle Creek Central High School (Michigan) Class of 1990’s Class Clown.”  Then I had kids.  Sure I want them to be happy and have fun, but avoiding Dad’s over-the-top antics might be a good thing.  As a result, I have had an eye on them.  Constantly looking for warning signs.  On the alert for their inner clown to fully develop and emerge.

Our youngest boy, 5-year-old Ben, has always been the most likely suspect.  The happy-go-lucky baby of the family that prances around without a care in the world.  I have my eye on him.  At one point, we even thought he was going to be left-handed like me (a confirmed warning sign), but he definitely writes right-handed, so I breathed a sigh of relief.  Then came that dreaded day, the day when I learned that he “clipped down” at school.  You see, in his Kindergarten class, they have a chart and kids either “clip up” (a good thing) or “clip down” (a bad thing).  For months, the reports we had received was that Ben was a well-behaved child, who was always ready to learn.  In fact, sometimes he had even “clipped up” one notch.  Was this first “clip down” an early warning sign of more squirreliness to come?  Or as one of my Eighth Grade teachers said (Mrs. Martin said this to all of the kids with my disposition), “Paulsen, you’ve got to have self-control.”  On the edge of my seat I waited.

Heading to a pre-Thanksgiving party, hosted by Ben’s Kindergarten class, I expected to see our little Ben yucking it up with his friends.  Sure he was getting along with the other kids, but he was certainly behaving himself.  Then as I scanned his classroom, I saw a glorious sight.  Our Ben had “clipped up,” not once, but twice for the day!  He had for the first time ever “clipped up” to “Purple” (a very good thing).  Proud, I rested easy for one more day.  Perhaps, my Ben had achieved a something special.  Something just right.  A student “Goldilocks Zone.”  Playful, but not troublesome.  Joyful, but not a clown.  Our Ben, happy in his own.

Ben proudly standing by his “Clip Up” to Purple.

And just to prove that we normally don’t send our kids to school wearing construction paper on their heads, here is a picture of Ben wearing his Pilgrim hat for their pre-Thanksgiving party.