Oratim

I had a very nice lunch yesterday with a very nice friend. We sat on her very nice deck, overlooking a very nice mountain. It was lovely. We talked the afternoon away, mostly about the kids, of course. My friend asked me if my darling children ever accused me of lecturing them and if so, what my response was. I chuckled, because my kids are always telling me I'm lecturing them. And this is the response they get sometimes. "Congratulations, you have just succeeded," I say to them, "in extending this lecture for another few minutes. Now, I must address your rudeness and then, I will start all over again so I can finish what I have to say without interruption." Hmpt! My kids are really far from perfect, little monsters really. My blogs are very generous to them and have a very Pollyanna approach to things. But for the most part, I really do enjoy mothering (lecturing) them and I don't care much if they enjoy it. I have a job to do, unpleasant as it may be sometimes, but a job nevertheless. My charge is to raise them up in the way they should go and if that means lecturing (mothering) them, then that's what I'll do. If kids listened the first time, TV advertisers wouldn't have to spend millions of dollars airing the same commercial 2 dozen times in one night. If kids listened the first time, mothers wouldn't have to say "no" 2 dozen times in one night. I'd much prefer it if I didn't have to lecture, but then, what would I do with all my words?