Musings....

Yesterday I had to take Owen to the chiropractor at 6:00 p.m. We grabbed some apples, bananas, and clementines, our LSU popcorn bucket to collect peels and cores, and loaded up the truck.

It was a beautiful evening. The sky was blue, and it was in the low 60's. I turned on the book on CD we were listening to - Indian in the Cupboard - and off we went. The kids were quiet, intently listening, and I was enjoying the peace. For about two minutes. Then Luke said, "I'm hot! Can you turn on the A/C?!"

Our truck was parked in the garage all day, it was about 62 degrees out with a nice wind, but Luke is "hot." Since it's finally started warming up here in Louisiana, the kids frequently tell me in the truck that they're hot and they want the A/C on. But then within ten minutes someone else is cold and they want it off. But someone else is still hot.

Which got me to thinking last night about spoiled American children. Yes, I did just go from A/C to spoiled American children. Do my children really have to always be at the right temperature? Can they not feel hot for a good while, or cold? Or thirsty, or hungry? My children (well, mostly Owen) get particularly annoyed when they tell me they're hungry, and I come back with, "Good! It's good to feel hunger! Most of the world's children are hungry because they get only one meal a day!" I honestly don't think they even know what it's like to be hungry. I'll bet they've never had a hunger pain, even for a moment.

I know you're going to think I'm somewhat cruel, but each day I purposefully try to make something "unfair" happen in their lives, deny them something they want, or hold off what they want

My educational consultant, Carole Joy Seid, once said, only half-joking, "The poorer you are, the better off your children will turn out character-wise." Now obviously we're not talking about the "we don't have running water or food" type of poor. I'm talking about the "I can't afford to keep up with the Joneses" type of poor. The longer I'm in this world, the more I think she's on to something.

I love to people watch, and it's interesting seeing the kind of teenagers that we're raising today. (and I'm talking here in general - certainly I've seen many, many amazing teenagers, mostly being raised by close friends :) They seem to lack humility, respect for elders/authority, graciousness, integrity, and ultimately really have NO fear of God. Instead they have this attitude of self-entitlement, pride, lack of hard work ethic. These teenagers will eventually enter our workforce and turn into what my husband has to deal with on a weekly basis in the form of consultants. I'm amazed at the stories he tells me of consultants he hires that won't stay at a particular hotel because they're too good for it, or walking off a consulting gig and hopping on a plane back home because a job was too stressful and not telling him or the client - nobody can get ahold of him for hours and hours.

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.... We only get ONE shot at this job called parenting. It scares me to death sometimes, frankly. I want so much for my children, but at the same time I want them to have so little materially. I want them to be content with a simple life and be grateful for the few things they have. But most important to me is I want them to love God and walk with Him daily. I want them to be world-changers for Him. I could care less if they do well in calculus. What does it gain the world if they go far beyond E equals MC squared but think they're better than everyone else? What if they become the President of the United States but stain the Office with lies and deceit and immorality?

I don't have any answers whatsoever. I'm just praying my kids won't need psychotherapy when they grow up because I wouldn't buy them cereal or Wii. Lord help me....