A Mother's Thanks

Dear God,

Today was a strange day. It wasn't bad. It wasn't particularly good, either. Just was.

Today actually started yesterday. I watched 5 children play in my backyard at various times most of the afternoon and it was disheartening. I watched the children pick on another child. Sometimes the "other child" was my daughter, sometimes it was another child. There was a mean-spiritedness that was overwhelmingly bad. Children were making fun of the way other children spoke. Children were excluding other children because they "had" or "didn't have" something.

I woke up troubled about the children. Do I talk to other parents? Why was my own daughter engaging in the meanness? How do we invite neighbor kids over and not have it be a bash session?

I prayed about it. My heart was heavy.

This afternoon, my neighbor and I talked about it. I told her about how I was so disappointed in how the children played yesterday. "You, too?" she said. We both confessed to talking to our husbands about it at length last night. I'm glad we were both on the same page. It was nice to get it out in the open.

And then, just like that, I saw the answer to my prayer being unveiled: We were agreeing to be on the same page with this behavior. No tolerance for meanness or "secrets" or kids excluding other kids. No children telling parents what to do. Children could be sent home for mean behavior. We were becoming that "village that raises a child" cliché-- and I was completely glad about it. Relieved, mostly.

So thank you, God, for answering my heavy-hearted prayer. Help us to raise children who are kind and inclusive and bring out the best in each other.

Emily