someday when my kids are old enough
Someday when my children are old enough to
>
> understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will
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> tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you
>
> enough . . . to ask where you were going, with whom,
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> and what time you would be home.
>
>
> I loved you enough to be silent and let you
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> discover that your new best friend was a creep.
>
>
> I loved you enough to make you go pay for the
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> bubble gum you had taken and tell the clerk, "I
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> stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."
>
>
>
> I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours
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> while you cleaned your room, a job that should have
>
> taken 15 minutes.
>
>
> I loved you enough to let you see anger,
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> disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must
>
> learn that their parents aren't perfect.
>
>
> I loved you enough to let you assume the
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> responsibility for your actions even when the
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> penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.
>
>
> But most of all, I loved you enough . . . to say
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> 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.
>
>
> And 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
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> ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal,
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> eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a
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> 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. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She
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> had to know who our friends were, and what we were
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> doing with them. She insisted that if we said we
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> would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an
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> hour or less.
>
>
> We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve
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> to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We
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> had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to
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> cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash
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> and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie
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> 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
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> we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had
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> eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really
>
> tough!
>
>
> Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn
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> when they drove up. They had to come up to the door
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> so she could meet them. While everyone else could
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> date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until
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> we were 16.
>
>
> Because of our mother we missed out on lots of
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> things other kids experienced. None of us have ever
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> been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's
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> property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all
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> her fault.
>
>
> Now that we have left home, we are all educated,
>
> honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean
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> parents just like Mom was.
>
>
> I think that is what's wrong with the world today.
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> It just doesn't have enough mean moms!
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