"Grandma, What's a Detention?"

A few weeks ago when I was driving with Gracie and Abbie in the back seat, we passed Glenbard North High School after school dismissal hours. A few students were walking home long after school had let out. Gracie asked me why those kids stayed at school so late. I told her that there were many reasons a student could have stayed after school—to talk to a teacher, for sports, or maybe they even had a detention.

“What’s a detention?” asked Gracie. I told her what it was and she asked further, “What do you do in detention?” I explained that it was really boring, kind of like a study hall.

Abbie, who had quietly been taking the whole conversation in, asked, “How do YOU know what they do in detention, Grandma?”

“Oh, I had a few back in the day!” I admitted.

Gracie adamantly stated, “I’ll never get a detention because the only bad thing I do is talk too much.”

“Helloooooo!” I retorted. “THAT’S why I was put in detention!”