Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that
motivates a parent, I will tell them:
I loved you enough to ask where you were going, with whom, and what
time you would be home.
I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new
best friend was a creep.
I loved you enough to make you pay for bubble gum you had taken and
tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."
I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned
your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.
I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment and tears in
my eyes. Children must learn their parents aren't perfect.
I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your
actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.
But most of all, I loved you enough to say NO when I knew you would
hate me for it.
Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them,
because in the end you won, too.
Then someday when your children are
old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will
tell them....
Was your Mom mean? I know mine was.
We had the meanest Mother in the whole world!
While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had cereal, eggs, and
toast. When others had a Coke and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat
sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was
different from what other kids had, too.
Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times, too. You'd
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 dishes, make the beds,
learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all
sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie 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.
Then life got really tough! Mother 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
people's property, or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her
fault. Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults.
We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was.
I think
that is what's wrong with the world today.
We just don't have enough "MEAN MOMS" |
