Season 1 Episode 17

In this episode, Claire finds a joint in Theo’s backpack. Cliff and Claire confront Theo and he adamantly denies that the joint belongs to him. They believe him, but Theo still feels like their trust has been compromised. He discovers that the joint belongs to a classmate who shoved it into Theo’s book to hide it from a teacher. Theo convinces him to come to the Huxtable home and confess.

There were so many things that I appreciated about this episode…

• Cliff and Claire confronted Theo directly. They did not wait to gather more “evidence”…they did not worry about it indefinitely.
• When Theo insisted upon his innocence, his parents trusted him. Had they persisted in their doubts, their relationship with Theo could have been permanently harmed…he needed to know that they believed in him.
• Theo placed a high value on his parents’ trust. His parents had taught him that, once broken, trust is not easily restored.
• Theo wanted to prove that their trust was not misplaced. He took a great risk in confronting his classmate.

As my boys get older, I suspect that we will be faced with issues of honesty and trust. I hope that we handle them in ways that will build up our relationship, maintain our mutual trust, and hold our boys accountable for their actions (if appropriate).