Responses

The reports are constant:

"Mommy, my arm hurts."
"I can't get to sleep"
"My eye is burning"
"Mommy, watch what I can do" (this is a big one..... especially at the pool!)
"Look at my boo boo"

They continually come at me each day. My Mom is probably laughing right now because I was that very child. "Mommy, watch me draw this. Mommy, look at my bug bite. It itches. Will you scratch is for me?" Admittedly, I was the worst. But, you aren't capable of seeing that then. You don't even know it when you're doing it. Better yet, you don't know how much it drives your mom crazy.

I'm scared that my fake and patented responses will be seen for what they are..... annoyed settlements. My "uh-huh" and my "I'm sorry" are simply not genuine. I feel almost robotic now when I hear the tone and the approach of "Mommy... (enter your own report.)"

I guess this realization that they will one day be in my position of "uh-huhing" their own offspring makes it feel better in some way. It helps to understand that my dislike for both how I respond and how they continually come, stem from my dislike of sin. There reports are driven by selfishness. That is the part that I am repulsed by and that is the part that I see myself struggling with.

There's actually so much more that I could say about my struggle with watching them sin all day long. It feels so defeating as a parent to watch them repeat the same mistakes over and over again. I'm not God. I simply can't parent as He does. He is so patient. For now, I'll just keep on keeping on!