Drippy Grape Juice

I want my son to turn out to be the man of God that he is destined to be. When he was first born, I was thrilled that God would give me such a wonderful little baby. Soon I began to realized that I wanted him to be better than anyone else’s child. Little did I know, that God makes us all imperfect. I have learned this by seeing the imperfections in my children everyday. They are noisy, clumsy, unruly, disobedient, and selfish just to name a few.

When my son was just two years old, he began getting into everything! I couldn’t stop him from getting into things. He was everywhere! Have you had this same occurrence? I ran from one thing to the next. One morning before I woke up, my son decided that he was hungry. He opened the refrigerator and spotted the grape juice. I was abruptly woken up to an awful ear-piercing scream. Once I got to him, I saw it. The grape juice dripping down his chin. His pajamas were soaked all the way to his toes! The floor was a puddle mess, and the inside of the refrigerator was all purple. The empty pitcher was forgotten on the floor. How could he make such a mess? I didn’t even know what to do. So I screamed at him. Now I feel guilty for the horrible way I acted. Where do you even start with a mess like this though? I don’t even remember what I did next, but I will never forget the look of fright on his face after I screamed at him.

Fortunately, eight years later, I have learned to respond to situations like this calmly. Dr. James Dobson wrote a wonderful book I refer to quite often when I need more patience with my son: “Bringing up Boys”. In this book it explains the mental differences between boys and girls. It explains some of the reasons why boys act the way they do, and what a parent can do to divert some of the unruly behaviors of little boys. One of my favorites is the constant running around and getting into things that 2-3 year old boys do. Why do they do this? It’s because they are bored. They need their little minds busy doing something constructive. I loved this piece of advice. I can truly say that I have fun with busy boys. It is a challenge to keep up with them, but with a little patience and lots of things to do they can be the sweetest things in the world. Thank you Dr. James Dobson for your great book!