Nobody loves me, everybody hates me I think I'll go and eat worms...

(picture from: http://www.soil-net.com/album/Soil-Net/Cast/slides/worm_01.html)

We were at a birthday party on Sunday, bouncy castle, check, kids running wild, check, parents bored out of their minds after three hours of pass the parcel, check.

When the children finally tired of piling on top of each other inside the inflatable castle, they began looking for other forms of entertainment ... bug hunting. My son, bug hunter- in- chief, led the hunt around the garden. I watched as the crowd of children grew larger around him as he bravely went where no bug hunter had gone before.

"He poked a beetle" they yelled
"He's holding a snail" they squealed
"He ate a worm!" they screamed
"WHAT!" I was over there in a flash.

Turns out he didn't eat the worm, he put it in his mouth as a dare. But as word spread around the party table, the bravado wore off and I could see he was beginning to feel a little bit ashamed.
Seizing the excuse to leave the party early, I took the little guy home. On the way home he confided that he  was  upset because the other children said he ate the worm and he didn't eat the worm. Furthermore, he only put the worm in his mouth because another child told him to.

"If the other child told you to put your hand in the fire, would you?" I'd been wondering when that one would come in handy. 

I explained to my son that he has his own mind and nobody can make him do anything he doesn't want to. He has promised me that he will never put a worm in his mouth again and the Doctor has assured me that he won't suffer any side effects from 'wormgate' aside from a little embarrassment.

Thankfully wormgate is yesterdays news now but I do hope my son has learnt his lesson and doesn't succumb to the dares and double dares again in a hurry.

* No worms were harmed on Sunday, just cleaned.

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