A hard hitting Lesson

I remember growing up hearing, more than once, this is going to hurt me more than it does you. It didn't take long after becoming a parent to realize what it meant. The first time my son got a shot I experienced the feeling.

Well last weekend I got to experience this in a whole new way. A customer of mine asked me to play paintball with him, his sons and some friends. Being the anti-social person I am, I turned him down until I realized he wasn't going to stop asking.

I thought my seven year old was a little young but my customer said bring him. He was very excited about playing. He loves anything army so this was right up his alley. It was an all day event and we had a blast but my son learned a lesson the hard way.

One of the games we played was called speed ball. Each team gets on either side of a field. The object is to move from obstacle to obstacle until you can get the flag and get back to the beginning without getting shot. At the beginning of the game I told my son to stay with me and we would provide the cover fire for whoever went for the flag.

So the game begins and we're popping off paint balls when I notice my son in the middle of the field grabbing the flag. I yell for our team to cover him and he makes it back without getting hit. Of course everyone is patting him on the back and congratulating him. I knew this was going to be a problem.

When we played later I told him not to do it again. I told him he got lucky but he wouldn't the next time. I told him to stay by my side. I knew he wouldn't. I knew the praise he received for getting that flag was a high he couldn't resist. I almost made him sit out the game but realized he needed to figure it out for himself.

So the game starts and sure enough my son goes for the flag. Surprisingly he makes it to it and picks it up but that was all. As he turned around a guy locked in on him and shot. The guns we were using shoot 30 balls a second with enough force to cover a football field. By the time my son thew his hands up to signal he had been hit five balls had hit him in the back and legs. Yes he cried. Yes he immediately had five bruises and YES I felt like shit for letting it happen.

The next game he stayed right by my side. He even said he was hit when I got hit, even though he wasn't. So he learned his lesson and it didn't take long for the same bruises that made him cry to become badges of courage. The bruises soon faded but I know he won't forget what he learned and I won't forget how much it hurt because it did. Just like they say, me more than him.