My youngest can come up with some pretty crazy excuses for his actions. His latest, if I’m good most of the time it’s okay if I’m bad every once and a while.

Isn’t that wonderful? Too bad he’s still grounded. I know—he can’t believe it either.

Here’s the problem… Which I explained to him and now I’m going to explain to you. (Hopefully, you’ll understand this better than he has so far)

People notice when we’re bad a lot more than when we’re good. Maybe that’s not fair, but that’s life. These bad actions leave imaginary marks on our bodies that often no amount of scrubbing will wash off. People remember, and if the incident was bad enough, they remember for a long, long time. It doesn’t take many bad choices for you to become pigeonholed a troublemaker, a bully, a snot-nosed-brat-nobody-wants-to-play-with—

Sorry, I digress…

Being good may seemed less exciting at times, but nothing closes doors-of-opportunity faster than poor choices. Trust me; you want to keep as many avenues as possible open while in your youth. Only then will you truly be free to choose what you really want to become as you grow older.