Ten Things for Which a Parent Will Never Be Sorry
- For doing your level best even when discouraged.
- For hearing before judging in family quarrels.
- For thinking before speaking when emotionally upset.
- For not harboring unkind thoughts of a talebearer.
- For being generous to an enemy, perhaps the next-door neighbor.
- For stopping your ears to gossip heard over the fence.
- For standing by your principles in dealing with your teenagers.
- For asking pardon, when in error, even of your child.
- For being square in business dealings.
- For accepting the stewardship of another child.
—Encounter, the National Research Bureau
”And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” Matthew 5:41
Happy Families
What do people consider the greatest source of pleasure in their lives? According to a study conducted for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Corporation, the overwhelming answer is “family,” selected by sixty-three percent of respondents.
”He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.” – Proverbs 18:22
The Meanest Mom
We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different than from what other kids had, too.
Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You would think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.
We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the child labor laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lay awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.
She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds, and life was really tough.
She wouldn’t let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.
Because of our mother, we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other’s property, or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault.
Sundays were reserved for church services, and we never missed once. We knew better than to ask to spend the night with a friend on Saturdays.
Now that we have left home, we are all God-fearing, educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like our mom was.
The world just does not have enough mean moms anymore. —Wit & Wisdom, July 30, 1998
