Good Morning,
It is very quiet in the house this morning. Both dogs went back to bed this morning with full bellies. Being outside all day yesterday wore them out. I just poured a hot cup of Door County S'mores Coffee and now it is time to write.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go. And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Back in my day as a kid most mothers had a list of rules that were well known even though not written down. These rules were different from home to home. We didn't have cell phones to let parents know where we were at all times. Communications were slim and pretty much non existent. The house phone could be used to call other parents to get a message to you or have the "mom alert" started. If this was the case and you received a phone call at a home of a friend or that friend's parent told you to head home, you could be assured of two things. 1. Something important had happened good or bad. 2. You had better be home in the next few minutes. The "mom alert" happened very seldom. You didn't travel all that far back in the day. School was close by and your friends lived in the same neighborhood.
Then there came a time where this one rule was applied daily, when the street lights came on at night, it was the signal that the day was winding down and you should be in your own yard and let mom know you were there. It didn't mean the day ended (during the summer school break). Special dispensation was sometimes given to allow for the kids across the street to be together in one yard as long as they were "quiet" . Violation of the return to home signal could mean restrictions would be applied to your freedom to leave and meet with friends the next day or they were threatened to be applied until you were 21. Parents had a way of embellishing their emotions with "crazy reactions". You knew the rule and it just wasn't violated, unless you were dead or severely injured. I sued to think that if i was running late, it was better to be dead or mauled by a bear. (We lived in the city co no chance of a bear helping me out.)
The thought for the day is this. Regardless of cell phones and GPS tracking systems to know where your kids are. Do they know the rules? Have you sat down with them and given them the rules to live by while they are in your home? I didn't say negotiate, but explain and reinforce the rules.
There was nothing worse for me than a rules expansion to the list of forty rules without knowledge of that rule and then violating it, and being punished for something that "I should have known." For instance no bike riding with your Sunday clothes on and it had been raining outside. One good puddle and the water from the back tire went up and all over a white shirt. So the rule of no bike riding before church was established but never communicated. You could say I co-wrote that one. The rule had been no playing in your good clothes before church, I did not feel that playing and riding a bike were two different things. I should have been a lawyer as a kid. But I never one a case!!!
I guess this is it friends, in a nut shell. Communicate with your kids. Take time to explain your expectations and listen to them if they have questions. Most kids are void of the adult version of common sense. Most parents could use a refresher course in that one anyway,
Communicate, Communicate. Reward good behavior immediately and correct bad behavior immediately, after you cool down,
Have a great day.
Marty
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