[I found this among some old news clippings that I was about to discard. Thank God I paused awhile to re-read it and thought that it is just as relevant (even more so in this day and age when we have a nation that is gradually being consumed by a moral decay....) Read it and think if it is really the answer to the perplexing question of – “what is wrong with the world today?”]
Mean Moms
Someday when my children are old
enough to understand the logic that
motivates a parent, I will tell them:
I loved you enough to insist...you tell me
where you were going, with whom, and
what time you would be home.
I loved you enough…. to insist
that you save your money and buy a
bike for yourself even though we could
afford to buy one for you.
I loved you enough…to be
silent and let you discover that your
new best friend was a creep.
I loved you enough…to make
you go pay for the bubble gum you had
taken and tell the clerk, “I stole this
yesterday and want to pay for it.”
I loved you enough….to stand
over you for two hours while you
cleaned your room, a job that should have
taken 15 minutes.
I loved you enough….to let you
see anger, disappointment and tears
in my eyes. Children must learn that
their parents aren’t perfect.
I loved you enough….to let you
assume the responsibility for your
actions even when the penalties were so
harsh they almost broke my heart.
But most of all, I loved you enough….
to say 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 ate
candy for breakfast, we had to have
cereal, eggs and toast. When others had
a Pepsi and a Twinkle 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
had to know who our friends were, and
insisted that if we said we would be gone
for an hour, we would be gone for an
hour or less.
We were ashamed to admit it,
but she had the nerve to break
Child Labor Laws by making us work. We
had to wash the dishes, make the beds,
learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry,
empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs.
I think she would lie 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 we were
teenagers, she could read our minds.
Then, life was really tough!
Mother wouldn’t let our friends just honk the
horn when they drove up. They had to
come up to the door so she could meet them.
While everyone else could date when they were
12 or 13, we had wait until we were 16.
Because of our mother we missed
out on lots of things other kids
experienced. None of us have ever been caught
shoplifting, vandalizing other’s property or ever
arrested for any crime. It was her fault.
Now that we have left home,
we are all educated, honest adults. We
are doing our best to be mean parents just
like Mom was.
I think that is what’s wrong with
the world today. It just doesn’t
have enough MEAN MOMs.
