School's out for two days now and my son and his friend were complaining about being bored already. I told them to take the path down to the creek and find something to do, only be careful not to get bitten by a snake. They came back after only a short while.

"What's up, why you guys back so soon?"

"Well, we saw three snakes while we were down there so we decide to go home."

My wife and I commended them on what a responsible decision it was to avoid that danger. Secretly however, my 11-year-old self was thinking, "What the heck, you saw snakes and didn't do anything cool? Like throw rocks at them, or use sticks to fling them at each other, or sneak a lighter out of the house to assault them with fire..." Youthful me was secretly disappointed.

So, any of you have any tales of good behavior (secretly) letting a loved one down? Maybe something Mom or Dad admitted to you after you became an adult.