My cousin Wayne sent me the link to THIS fascinating article. Essentially, a mother became frustrated with her two daughters’ bickering in the car. The girls were 10 and 12 years old. The mother pulled the car over and told the girls to get out – and then actually drove away – without returning.The two girls were left on the road, and somehow got separated, leaving the 10 year old very distraught about not being able to find her mother. A good Samaritan (word choice by reporter) stopped to help her, taking her to police. When the mother arrived to collect the little girl, she was arrested for child endangerment. It’s fortunate that she is a high-powered Manhattan attorney.
I have a 9 year old, an 11 year old, and a 12 year old. There is bickering, for sure, and I can relate to the temptation to have a peaceful and quiet ride all by my lonesome, but this story disturbs me on several levels.
Being alone and afraid is one of the most terrible states ever, and as an adult if I make choices that leave me alone and afraid, I understand them to be consequences of my decisions. At 10, however, it can be nothing less than traumatizing to wonder where you are and why you were so bad that you were abandoned.
When I was a kid, I had a father who was truly extraordinary (I still have that father and he is still extraordinary, but I’m no longer a kid). My Dad’s graciousness toward his children has left me with me an untainted idea of who God is and how He feels about me. Dad is not perfect, but he always liked me, even when I was pretty unlikeable.
Friends and family have giggled over the fact that I often tell my kids that I will love them no matter what – because I often include extreme examples to prove my loyalty – examples of them committing crimes or mistakenly burning the city down or streaking naked across the field during a nationally televised Phillies game (mooning someone out the schoolbus window is already a given, but full-fledged streaking?). It is my job as a parent to point them to Jesus and I suspect the mother in the article should have asked herself, “What Would Jesus Do?” no matter how corny and hackneyed the phrase is now since the bracelet craze.
So, here’s your reminder to turn things around: Whether you are 10 or 110, nothing you have ever done is so bad that you have been left abandoned. He has always liked you. He always will.
Although, if you are 110, I wouldn’t dare the streaking thing - traumatizing on many levels.
2 comments:
Years ago when driving in the car with my son and daughter, my son (about 11 at the time) was feeling particularly argumentative. I warned him that if he did not stop arguing, he would have to walk the remainder of the way home (about 5 blocks). My son chose to keep the verbal tirade up, so I escorted him out of the car to the sidewalk and had him walk the rest of the way home, while my daughter and I following him in the car to make sure he made it there safely. We were able to enjoy the silence, and my son got some needed thinking time.
I remember once when my sister was about 4 or 5 she was having a hissy fit in the back of the car and it was slightly drizzling and my mom kept promising that she would make my sister get out of the car and she'd leave her there if she didnt calm down. My little sister didnt heed the warning so we got to a parking lot and my mom made my sister get out of the car. Stand there, my sister started appologizing up and down crying... my mom got in the car and turned it on... sat there for a minute then asked my sister if she was ready to be quiet for the rest of the ride... needless to say, there wasnt a peep out of her for the next 45 minutes haha.
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