So Lexi discovered “Leave It to Beaver” on Netflix. There was something refreshing about the three of us finishing our chores as quickly as possible to sit around the television to watch a black and white show. I was most excited about experiencing it through Lexi’s eyes.

I definitely saw the show through a new set of eyes…parenting eyes. There were so many times when Ward and June seemed to laugh off their kids’ antics as just that…kid’s antics, but I found myself thinking, “If those were my kids, I would have disciplined them.” For example, Beaver and Wally pooled their money together to purchase a mail order pet alligator. They proceeded to feed it, care for it and even show their entrepreneurial side by turning it into a business.

Did June and Ward freak out that their kids had done that? No! They thought it was funny and while they wouldn’t allow the boys to keep the alligator, they rewarded the boys’ responsibility by getting them a dog. I would be mildly freaked out by a pet alligator in the bathtub, but then I thought about it. What rule did they break exactly? None. Why would I discipline Lexi for taking the initiative to follow through on an idea?

If that occurred in the workplace, I’d be applauding the other person just as Ward and June did. When I did become such a fuddy duddy at home? It wasn’t a one time occasion. In a span of a thirty minute show, I actually huffed at the kindness and grace the parents extended. I just turned to my husband with the look that said, “Are you kidding me?!?” How can they be so nonchalant about Beaver getting a black eye at school?

I think my first inclination would be to ask, “And where were the teachers when all of this was happening? Why didn’t an administrator call me and let me know that my child had been hurt?” I did like Ward’s response when he saw it, which was to say, “I think I had a hundred of black eyes by the time I was his age.” It’s just a part of being a child, especially being a boy.

So the moral for me was to lighten up…even if Lexi does send away for a carnivorous wild animal.

And as a side note-I never remembered June having a housekeeper three days a week. It would make so much more sense if she had infants or pre-school age toddlers around the house and she was working part-time or working from home, but why does a non home-schooling mom of a second and eighth grader need a housekeeper three times a week?

The show can’t be all perfect!