The kiddos just each got a new fishing pole, nothing special, but they sure don't know it. There they were, bouncing around on cloud nine all day, not paying attention to their equipment, with their Mom and myself hollering ... "If ya'll don't sit still and watch your poles, a big fish will come along and take it off into the water".

What I come to realize that day, is that children go parent deaf when introduced to a large body of water. I was amazed and shocked at this revolution, but not nearly as much as when it hit me that parents don't listen to themselves either when around large bodies of water.

After several hours of telling them to sit down and watch their poles, the wife finally had enough, and grounded them all to the blanket on the edge of the water. However, we came to catch some fish, and by God's will, we were going to do exactly that.

The wife picked up one of the kids poles to fish with, along with her own, to increase her chances of outfishing me. After all, the kids weren't using them, they were grounded. So there she sat, fishing away and doing her best to best me. Apparently, she had not listened to herself the entire day. One of the boys poles was in front of her, and then it was gone. That's right, off into the lake. She was not paying attention, such as she had preached so often to the kids through the course of the day.

Upset does not describe her feelings over the loss of the fishing pole. She started the boohooing thing, and my three year old stepped up and says, "Mommy don't cry, it's just a fishing pole, and it was an accident. True, losing the pole is your fault for not paying attention, but don't cry." Frankly, I couldn't believe my 3 year old said what he did. I looked around, then I looked over at him and then around again. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss a bunch of his birthdays. My 3 year old sounded just like an adult, and I realized my age. For a moment, I though that when I got home to check the mail, I would have a Social Security Check waiting for me.

All in all it was a very good day. My three year old son caught his first Drum and Crappie unassisted. My 5 year old daughter caught her first fish unassisted and my 7 year old son caught his first bass on an artificial lure. It was all in all a great day.

Lesson Learned? NO! She did the same thing again two weeks later. I laughed both times so hard I thought I split my gut, which as all married men know, does not make the wife happy ... EVER. I did manage to get back into her good graces, and recovered both lost poles with the fish still on.

Now when we go fishing I use a different tactic to get through the day. I tell the kids, "If ya'll don't settle down you'll get in trouble. And what that means is that your Mom will lose your fishing pole again". I tell them in private so she doesn't hear me, but it seems to work. They know that without poles, there's no reason to go fishing.

Oh yes, the 3 year old outfished me and Mom both.