A Day in the life ..child vs me vs petulance

I always have to give in!

On Sunday, my youngest was acting up because of his father's advise.
A couple hours later, he was sitting quietly doing a maze puzzle, so I thought I'd broach the topic. I didn't ask him a question, I wanted to talk to him and suggest something but he just refused to hear or let me proceed.

My son took out his grouchiness on me because he could. I thought to myself, I don't deserve this. 'Fine' I said to him, 'you don’t want to talk to me, I won’t talk to you.'

I decided I wanted to be petty.

A couple of hours later I came back from the supermarket, I bought him lozenges for his throat and passed them to him, he asked what flavour and for about 40sec he talked to me about flavours before I remembered ‘hey I’m not supposed to talk to you and you don’t want to talk to me remember?’ He said ‘But I want to talk to you’.
I said ‘No, it can't work that way’ but he insisted laughingly, so ok ... thought I, let’s try the same topic.

So, it appears that at the time, he was still choking on the advise his father gave him and just did not want to hear me. So the lesson.. don’t get to the touchy subject immediately, work around it, assess child’s mood then get to it.

So I always have to give in, sigh.. some days are tougher than others.

Laugh at Yourself

Out of the blue, I thought to myself today that I should teach my children to laugh at themselves. I think that in itself does wonders for character. It would actually help them be more accepting of imperfections, reduce preoccupation with self and negate pride.
I do and it helps.

When we begin to take our failures non-seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves - Katherine Mansfield

Laughter is a holy thing. It is as sacred as music and silence and solemnity, maybe more sacred. Laughter is like a prayer, like a bridge over which creatures tiptoe to meet each other. Laughter is like mercy; it heals. When you can laugh at yourself, you are free -Ted Loder

Is it true the good die young?

My child was sick recently and with the recent H1N1 taking a toll, it worried me and started me along the road of maudlin thoughts and fears.

I knew 3 persons who had died around the age of 50. These persons were good people for various reasons – their attitudes to friends, colleagues and family. Why does God do that, especially when some of them had young children who would miss them terribly.
But when I look closer at each of these individuals, I realize they each had a greater depth to their inner being.

One lived quite selflessly first for his 5 younger siblings, he became a ‘mum’ of sorts when she died early; and then he lived selflessly for his 3 kids, keeping his troubles to himself always making others laugh. He died of a sudden heart failure (without prior illness) but he managed to speak to his wife in the last few minutes before he passed.
Another, was an uncle who prayed fervently, was active in church (like he was searching for something) and yet I knew even though he had a wife and child - was not happy. Yet he too showed us a happy face. The third was a colleague who was a very creative soul but had a little darkness to her character, which she displayed through dressing like Leticia (Adam’s family mother, always wore black lipstick) and was quite insightful in conversations with people around her. And she too was always smiling, joking, no matter how tough the work day was, never a melancholy sort in front of others.
If MJ’s death had not been how we know it now, he too would have fallen into this category, we know he was a persecuted soul yet he too had a different face for the world.

Is it that the heart gives out or the soul that has had enough or that Greater Goodness who decides that they have reached their limit of their human essence ? Someone once said they believed that some souls are temporary, are only on this earth to fulfill a higher purpose – to affect the lives of others.
How does one explain the passing of a young child. Why does God do that to mothers?