My nine year old can forge my signature

My nine year old can forge my signature
7 August 2013

My nine year old can successfully forge my signature.  Should I be worried?

I find it rather alarming, that Cole can one hundred percent convincingly imitate and copy my signature.  Down to a T.  The second last letter of my surname.  In fact he goes even further and includes the “E” at the end.  And so I can concur that he can falsify my John Hancock, even to the last letter.  Down to an E.

However, more important than his rather impressive ability to mimic my autograph, is the pressing question – why would he even want to? 

Being able to duplicate your parent’s autograph is usually a trick reserved for the older child.  And one that comes into play, merely to avoid having to show a particularly nasty test or exam result to a parent to sign.  Instead, avoidance is key and is successfully achieved, by simply doing the dirty deed yourself.

It made me laugh quite a bit, because in his zealousness to show off his newly acquired criminal skill, he pre-signed his reading homework – a few days in advance.  Amazing, especially given the fact that the homework had not even been written down.  And so right next to a blank line, there is “my signature” already pre-recorded so to speak.

I think reproducing parental signatures is a thing that all kids do.  They tend to fixate on the ability of adults to have a unique trademarks of sorts.  And so, initially at least, they all try and reproduce their parents’ one at first.  And to give them their credit, it is usually done in all innocence at first.

But, I firmly believe that there comes a time in every child’s life where they think – “Hey, wait a minute.  Rather than ask mom or dad to sign something, I’ll just deal with it myself”.  Possibly it is like a rite of passage of sorts.

The distinction though, comes into when they put this particular skill set into action.

Usually it is reserved for during the teenage years.  Yet, my little Cole has mastered the knack already and is putting it into practice with immediate effect.  Which is rather funny, especially because he’s a diligent boy and always does his homework.  And always brings everything for me to sign in any rate.

Or does he?

At forty years of age, I am still able to effectively duplicate both my mother and father’s signatures with immaculate ease.  And perfection too.

And so I’m thinking – rather than reprimanding Cole, perhaps I should put his talent to good use?

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Care to take a stab at which signature is the real one?

Indeed, why not practice forging your mother's signature in your Maths exercise book - so that your teacher can see your efforts at impersonation, deception and deceit

 

The real me and the fake me signs all of Cole's homework these days