Obedience 101

In James Dobson's book "Parenting the Strong-Willed Child", he makes the wonderful comparison of children and grocery carts. I'll paraphrase it for you. God, in his infinite wisdom, will give you one child (for me it was my first) like a brand new cart at the grocery store. It basically steers itself, maneuvers around corners well, obeys your every steering command; makes shopping and well, life, much easier. Then, once you think you've got this parenting thing down pat, and as chance to show God has a sense of humor, he gives you the cart from h-e-double-toothpicks (as my friend Melanie likes to call it). You know the one. The cart that has the tire that just won't go straight; refuses to go where you want it, much less take a corner on a dime. You push one way, the cart pulls the other. The one that makes you exhausted by the time your 30 minutes of shopping are up. Sound familiar to anyone out there? I have been blessed with one of each.

This week has been harder than normal with Rick being out of town. One of the things he told the boys was that they were to obey Mommy while he was gone. He wanted to have a good report from me every night he called. Monday night came and the report wasn't so good from our littlest cart. Tuesday was much of the same; Wednesday - ditto. You get the picture. By the time Saturday rolled around and Daddy was on his way home, Mommy had been run over enough times by her little cart she had skid marks on her head. When Daddy called, Mommy had a little crying fit on the phone, begging him to drive faster and to be carrying a big box of chocolates and a large bottle of Chardonnay when he came through the door.

Daddy was none too happy. He was glad to see the boys and didn't bring it up until after dinner. But when he did, Jason tried to play it off like he was a good boy. When Daddy asked if he obeyed, Jason looked right at me to see if I heard the question, then nodded his head yes. It didn't take long for this facade to crumble, and within a few minutes he was headed to his room, sure he was going to get a spanking. Instead of a spanking though, Daddy took away his beloved Puppy for the night. It broke Daddy's heart more than anything, but as he put it, "something has to get to him". It did.

The next morning Daddy and Jason worked on signs to put up around the apartment that say "Obey". He wanted to make sure Jason had every opportunity to remember what he is supposed to do. He even put scripture on it to back it up! Ephesians 6:1 "Children obey your parents......"and he and Jason are saying it throughout the day.

These cute, colorful signs are all over the place. (You'll have to pardon the post-it's, we ran out of tape!) I am happy to report, they are working! I realize it's just the first day, but it's a start. I'll keep you posted on the progress.