Strawberry Picking and Lessons in Ethics

The other day, three of my children and I went strawberry picking. The other three chose not to go. Iz stayed home even though he went last year. I guess he doesn't have fond memories of the experience. At the place we pick, they tell you which fields that you are allowed to pick in. I explained to the kids how to pick and how to look at the berry before you pull it off. After we had been picking a few minutes, Si said to me, "You're not allowed to eat while you pick." Realizing that I had forgotten to mention this detail, I asked him why he said that. He told me that he had seen a sign of a berry with a bite in it in a circle with a line through it. I told him that was correct. I explained that since we pay by the container that if you eat berries before you pay, it is like stealing.

Not long after that, I noticed Simon walking towards field #3. I called to him and said that we were only supposed to pick in fields #1 & #2. A woman who was already picking in field #3 was very close to him and I am sure she heard me, but kept right on picking. So when we left, we saw the woman with her HUGE basket of contraband strawberries.

After I paid, Lydia asked if she could have some strawberries. I told her that when we got to the car, she could. The lady in the stand said, "Do you mean to tell me that you didn't eat ANY while you were picking?!?!?" The kids said "no" and I told her how I had explained that it was stealing to eat while picking. The lady said, "Of course, you can eat while picking!!! You just can't eat ALL of the berries." If I had my wits about me, I would have asked her about the sign and if I should have had my kids disobey the signs posted in the field. I am glad that my kids still felt it was wrong to eat them if the SIGNS said not to.