You Already Have a Good Kid

I sat watching the falling snow from my window yesterday and reflected on the funny things some of the children in our family have done. Do you have family stories that have been told for years? Here are a few of ours.

A sweet little six-year-old boy wanted to shave. All he could find to trim were his eyebrows, so he took a razor and sheared them off. His face took on a ghostly appearance. This wonderful little boy is a veterinarian now and has given great humanitarian service to the community he lives in.

A precocious eight-year-old decided to make garlic toast. She sprinkled garlic powder instead of garlic salt on her bread, and she smelled like garlic for a week after she ate it. Now this busy mom of five children, two of them special needs, has just finished her master’s degree and is a part-time social worker.

A curly blonde two-year-old loved borrowing the neighbor boy’s trike. How could we get her a toy like that? She was only two. After she raided the neighbor’s garage for the third time, we bought her a shiny red trike. She now holds a master’s degree as a reading specialist and loves her own children as well as her kindergarten classes.

Who was to know what elegant individuals these children would become? What a blessing and an inspiration they are in our lives. We don’t know what life holds for us; we must direct it the best we can and enjoy the ride along the way.

Don’t be so concerned with raising a good kid that you forget you already have one. Glennon Melton