I said "Q" Daddy, it's a letter.

I have come to realize two things concerning the necessity of parenting: 1) Having children will lead you down the path of truth: that is to say that eventually, given enough time with your children, you will realize that your parents (yes, no matter how vehemently you deny it, refuse it, or recuse it) were right. This is necessary for your own personal well being and growth as it will take a substantial amount of maturity to admit this publicly (consider this blog to be public). 2) Having children also allows you to truly conceptualize the swath of adjectives between disappointment and elation. This is necessary for one to fully understand how God must feel when we are obedient and disobedient. Comprehending that our Heavenly Father maintains consistency in maintaining his love and commitment to us when we disobey is hardly accomplished until you are forced to put this into practice when correcting or punishing your child. Especially when in the process of disobeying you realize they just exhibited a beyond extraordinary level of intelligence. You want an example, OK try this one on for size. Jack asked me if he could watch a veggie tales before dinner one evening. Simple enough, except Dinner was in less than 2 minutes and we do not allow the TV on during dinner. I told him, no that it was time to eat. He looked me dead in the eyes and said, "I don't like you".......Well, that was a first. I will leave out the details of what exactly ensued, but it culminated (after about 30 minutes) into what I considered to be a very good moment for Jack and me. A few days passed by and Jack and I were going to Wal-Mart (BTW: I cannot stand this place!!) to get some milk. Jack asked if he could go by and look at the toys section, I responded by telling him that we did not have time and would not be venturing to the left side of the mega-store....He grunted, lowered his head and under his breath stated...."I don't like you". At that moment I spun the car into a parking space, slammed on the brakes and threw it into park (the people on the edge of the parking lot selling pit-bulls must have thought they were about to sell something to a very excited man). I quickly turned toward the back seat and asked him to repeat what he had just said. His eyes were as big as Silver Dollars as I could see him searching for words...then, with a matter of fact look that can only be generated by the best used car salesmen, he said, "Q Daddy, I don't like Q. It's a letter". Behavioral modification followed this action, but what a challenge. I grow in appreciation daily to my parents and my Heavenly Father.