One's child could never do any wrong

I was still seething after penning the earlier post, and somehow over lunch with Josh, my irritation was ignited.

So I sent his brother a text message to tell him what dad-in-law said, and that I was disappointed that he would do something like that, whether or not he had malicious intent. I did not mince words too, when I told him his precious son had on several occasions demanded for presents from Josh and me.

His brother's reply was furious but nonsensical. "Who the hell spread such a rumour? Who is spreading this rubbish around?"

Rumour? What rumour? I advised him to read my message again, and pointed out that dad-in-law - his father - was the one who told me what he heard. This wasn't a rumour.

"Who started this, you better own up!" was his reply, as well as a bunch of other defensive nonsense. He reminded me of the majority of STOMP's readers, who blast brainless comments without fully understanding the content of the news.

"Please read my message again," I replied. "I don't understand what owning up I need to do."

And again, I minced no words when I told him he was more concerned about not being wronged than his father's feelings. "If you think dad misunderstood you, then you should clarify with him, so that he will stop feeling sad," I wrote, rounding off my message.

Josh was cheekier, and sent a reply, saying that dad-in-law must have been lying and he will get a good long lecture later.

Soon after, a long composition from Josh's brother poured forth, about how we had accused his darling son of demanding for presents.

In his words:

"Unlike his classmates and friends who show off PSP, wii, DS, and whatever irresponsible parents shower their poor children with, Ethan never compare himself and ask us for such stupid things. We always teach him good values and explain to him why he is so lucky to play Disney and Cartoon Network games online and on our phones. He is super well-behaved and respectful... Extremely disappointed and sad to hear such views of him! Show you all are ignorant of how we bring him up."

Super well-behaved. Yeah. So well-behaved that he tore opened his baby cousin's presents. So well-behaved that he snorted at us to better get his birthday present soon. So well-behaved that he screamed and howled at family dinners to get attention when the folks were paying more attention to the infants.

And yes, we admit we are absolutely ignorant of how he and Moley-moley bring Ethan up. What sort of parents stand in a corner and simply mutter "Ethan, stop it," when he was being a nuisance?

It is true that in the eyes of (some) parents, their child could do no wrong. Their sweet little angel could never be diabolical.