Mean Moms & Grandmas

Someday when my children are old enough to understand the
logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean ole Mom told me:

I loved you enough . . .to ask where you were going, with whom,
and what time you would be home.

I loved you enough to be silent and let you
discover that your new best friend was a creep.

I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room,
a job that should have taken 15 minutes.

I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment and
tears in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.

I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions
even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.
But most of all, I loved you enough . . . to say NO when I knew you would hate me for it.

Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too.
And someday when your children are old enough to understand
the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.

Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the whole world!
While other kids ate nothing or junk for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast.
When others had soda and chips for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches and soup.
And you can guess our mother fixed us a hot dinner that was eaten at the dinner table with the family.

Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times.
You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were,
and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we would be
gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the
Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to
cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash, clean our room,
feed our pet, and all sorts of cruel jobs.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our
minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!

Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up.
They had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone
else could date when they were 14 or 15, we had to wait until we were 16 .

Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids
experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing
other's property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault.

Now that we have left home, we are all educated honest adults.
We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was.
I think that is what's wrong with the world today.
It just doesn't have enough mean moms!