Two Sons and a Headache

I have always been a calm, laid-back sort of person. Nothing much shook me up to the point of falling to pieces. However, there was a time when my two sons were small I blew my calm-mama attitude. Little boys will sometimes cause even the strongest of us to occasionally fall apart. Most certainly will give you some frightful times.

I suppose, there were times I was too much of a disciplinarian, but I set rules and if they did not obey; consequences followed. Just such a thing happened when my boys were twelve and nine years old. They broke one of mama’s important rules. “NO FIGHTING!”

For a very short time each day, they were alone after school until I came home from work. They were told to go straight in and stay inside until I arrived.

On one particular day, I came home and they were engaged in a terrible fight. Fist and feet were flying through the air in so many directions I didn’t know which way to duck. This called for drastic measures. When I got those two apart and slam-dunked them on opposite sides of the room, I informed them…two days- no bikes, and no TV. You WILL have extra reading to do and you had better bring all your schoolbooks home for extra studying tomorrow night.

That made for a long night and before bath and bedtime arrived, I almost forgot what a “calm attitude” was…They badly bruised my very last nerve.

The next afternoon, I came home to a very quiet house. I walked through the rooms trying to find two little boys and they were nowhere. What I did find lying on the kitchen table was a scribbled note…Good-by Mom, we are going to run away and go to Uncle Clarence’s home in Alabama. Cause we don’t like rules.

Well, here is where I lost my cool. I ran to the car; not knowing which way I must go first, or what to do. I was so upset I could not get the key to work. Finally, after two tries the car started. Just as I pulled out of the driveway, two little heads appeared from across the road. They came up the embankment laughing and clapping their hands with joy. However, they lost that happy face when they saw I did not find any humor in their game. Do I need to tell you it was a VERY, long week with no bike, no TV, and no visits from friends? I am sure you get the picture…

My boys made life interesting. They gave me lots of joy, little sorrow, and a whole lot of headaches. They are adults now with children and grandchildren (one) of their own and they are still making me laugh, give me sorrow when they have sorrows, and the older we all get, the more headaches they give me. Love them…Heaven knows that I do. Parents are to be God’s representatives to their children. God wants us to train our children in the way they should go.  He plainly tells us that. Proverbs 22:6- Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Today it seems as though too many of our children no longer value the biblical structure of authority. They want to do their own thing in their own way. However, God Himself appointed parents to lead children and it is His will that children obey their parents. Proverbs 1:8-9 -My son, hear the instructions of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother” For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

If children fail to honor their parents, it’s unlikely they will honor God or other people. God makes a beautiful promise to the children who honor their parents. Exodus 20:12-Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

I believe this is God's view on the family, He gave us the responsibility to teach our children and it is our job to maintain the kind of atmosphere that encourages them to be well behaved and obedient children.  That is the way I see it…

Have a great day in the Lord,

Mary Frances King