Parenting is Like a Bowl of Cherries

If you have been a parent for any length of time you have become aware that there are just some things that you:
A) have not been told about the journey,
B) you really do not know how you will handle certain situations (even though you were 100% positive that you would know exactly what to do), and
C) you need help.

I will attempt to explain--

No one tells you that there might come a time when you will be awaken in the middle of the night by the sounds of a child who is having a major explosion from his/her nether regions and did not quite make it to the proper seat in the house. Such an occurrence might result in you dragging out your mop bucket and a gallon or more of bleach and cleaning the bathroom from top to bottom.

On a more serious note--

No one tells you that boys get rather, ah, hormonal, pretty much in the same fashion as girls. But here's the thing: moms are not boys!!! Moms know what to do with the girls. Been there. Done that. "Sure, honey, you take some Tylenol, eat a piece of chocolate and go take a nap. You want the heating pad?" With boys??? I can answer technical questions, but do I really have the right to? Since I homeschool, I am with my boys much more than their dad. No fault on his part, he is doing what he is supposed to do--go to work to support his family. But "guy" questions do not come up between the hours of 6 PM and 7 AM only. They can come up at any and all times. Also, no one talks about boys being "hormonal". Any mom who has sat by when their pre-teen or teen son has resorted to tears for a minor thing knows what I am talking about.

Can you guess that I am in the middle of boy hormones? Can I say, "Yikes!!!" So I am in need of some guidance. I found a source of guidance in a place I wasn't looking--here. I do not remember what took me to this blog: probably something to do with homeschooling or natural eating. At any rate, am so thankful that she is posting these wonderful gems. I have not yet decided if I will purchase Brooke Meglothlin's book, but I am enjoying going through these verses. I am looking forward to sharing them with all my children, male and female alike. Here's the thing, parenting is not always a bowl of cherries. Well, maybe it is a bowl of cherries. God did know what he was doing when He made cherries. Tiny bites of pure happiness wrapped around a rock-hard pit. Have you ever eaten a cherry and bit the pit? It absolutely hurts. So, yes, I will say that parenting is like a bowl of cherries, pits and all. It is dealing with those pits that is so difficult. Getting to the heart of behavior is what is necessary, but I do not always know how to hit behavior at the core. I tend to take care of symptoms; something I despise in the medical community. The trick is to figure out WHY the child is behaving in a particular manner and to guide him or her to the correct heart position. Hmmm, not so easy. For me, I am at a total loss. I want to say, "It's wrong. Just don't do it." But that method doesn't work so well. It is necessary to make a child, or ourselves truth be told, seek out the reason why behavior is inappropriate. That is what fosters the desire to change the behavior. Discipline and correction for a symptom does not heal the problem. This requires work on my part. I have to research and pray and do some deep thinking in order to discover what is right and why. In the process, I learn a thing or two and most likely have to correct a hundred things or two hundred in my own life. But in the long run, it is worth it.

So, I will continue to eat my bowl of cherries and do my best to deal with the pits.