Sunday, January 27, 2008

Doing the Right Thing

Sometimes being a parent is all about doing the right thing even when it makes someone, like maybe your child, angry with you. This has been a week where that has been necessary. We have had to intervene in a friendship for Mikey that was taking him in a wrong direction.

I have not enjoyed this...at all!

Mikey is not thrilled with me, at this point!

Interestingly, though, this week has also been hard for two of my friends in almost the same way. They have had to parent the hard way.

You know, I guess that is truly what parenting is. It is natural to love our children and to enjoy their company.

It is hard to do those things that bring their wrath.

We put this intervention off as long as we could and as long as Mikey was taking steps to get himself out of the situation but the friend just could not take "no" for an answer.

We only get a few years to help these young people learn how to make the right decisions and then they are on their own. We are very proud of Mikey for the conclusions he came to. He was really trying to do the right thing.

We hope he forgives us soon for stepping in and amputating the diseased friendship.

Anybody been there? Is there hope?

We are continuing to include Mikey in every family activity so he is not left alone in the house. He grumbles at the beginning but eventually warms up to the fun going on around him. We had a nice dinner, ok it was getting nice towards the end, at a local pizzeria last evening and then came home for a Wii nine hole golf game.
Mikey won!!!!
Of course!!!
He beat his Grandma who has golfed all over the country.

My prayer is that one day he will be glad for our help in this situation that was over his head. I am thankful that we were able to take this step before he got his driver's license next year. Hopefully this person will be out of his system by then.

Please pray with me that Mikey will come to see himself through the love of Christ. He hates himself right now as he deals with a very bad case of acne. It is tough. But he is so funny and likable. So popular with everyone but himself.

I think of Mark Lowery's song, This Too Shall Pass!
It will...so soon our children will be out on their own and we will be remembering these days and shaking our heads...then we will whip out those 50 gazillion photos of the grandchildren and B-R-A-G!!!!

Then we will say a prayer for our children as they, ahem, get back everything they gave us? As they parent their children!

Thanks for listening...

5 comments:

Unknown said...

We have a 13-year old son who is into cool. He naturally attracts followers and he knows it. We have to monitor everything in his life 24/7 because he is naturally curious and struggles with self-control. I am not popular with him much of the time. It isn't easy, but as a parent, I need to keep the boundaries maintained.

Persevering,
KJ

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

Aaaah adolescence!

Praying my sister friend!

BittersweetPunkin said...

This is familiar...my DD is 14 and had a run in with what I called a bad friend about a year ago...I talked to her in the car and let her know how I fly..encouraged her to think about it ..and a few days later she told me I was right..it wasn't a healthy relationship and she removed herself from the situation! Yes..sometimes we have to intervene..and trust that they see what we do without looking like the bad guy....but being the bad guy every now and then isn't too terrible considering the consequences if it were to go unchecked.

Alicia @ refinedisaiah648.blogspot.com said...

praying for all you moms!

Anonymous said...

As your son is not an adult like your other friends in situations, you aren't at the point of letting go as he is a minor.

A couple at church is dealing with the almost the same thing as we are. She has something for me to read about letting go. When I get it, I will post it! Maybe it will speak encouraging words to our hearts.

Stay true to the truth and your convictions!!