By Randi Sue Huchingson
Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next.
~Franklin P. Jones
A few weeks ago, one of the neighborhood boys was playing at our house. He has ADHD and was being particularly impulsive. It seemed as if everything he touched broke. He was being loud and obnoxious. He wasn't doing anything horrible. It was just that he was full of thoughtless energy. It was so bad that even the kids didn't want to be around him.
Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next.
~Franklin P. Jones
A few weeks ago, one of the neighborhood boys was playing at our house. He has ADHD and was being particularly impulsive. It seemed as if everything he touched broke. He was being loud and obnoxious. He wasn't doing anything horrible. It was just that he was full of thoughtless energy. It was so bad that even the kids didn't want to be around him.
He is one of those people that I feel God has put in my life to fight for and love. But this day, it was all I could do not to fight with him.
So I decided to leave the house to get groceries. I put my husband in charge of the kids.
When I got home I found my kids playing with handmade puppets. The neighbor boy was making puppets for each of them. They had props and were putting on an elaborate puppet show. They were having a grand time.
But, these puppets were made out of socks and they were not just any socks. They were our good socks. The ones that had just come out of the wash.
So, I let the kids have it. Everyone pointed to the neighbor boy. They said it was his fault. I proceeded to ask him if he knew how much socks cost. He said no. I told him we did not have the money to cut up the only good socks we had. I reminded him that I had told him this before and he was never to do this again. He said he was sorry as he handed my daughter her freshly made puppet.
Later that night, it hit me. I had put more value in those cheap socks than in one of God's prized possessions. And wasn't making sock puppets a wholesome way for a twelve-year-old boy to spend his time?
I went to the boy and told him that I really liked to see him and the other children being creative. I promised him a big bag of worn-out socks to use the next time he wanted to make sock puppets. The next day, in church, he beamed as he told the whole children's church that I was going to give him a bag of socks to use to make puppets.
And I was so glad that I did.
So I decided to leave the house to get groceries. I put my husband in charge of the kids.
When I got home I found my kids playing with handmade puppets. The neighbor boy was making puppets for each of them. They had props and were putting on an elaborate puppet show. They were having a grand time.
But, these puppets were made out of socks and they were not just any socks. They were our good socks. The ones that had just come out of the wash.
So, I let the kids have it. Everyone pointed to the neighbor boy. They said it was his fault. I proceeded to ask him if he knew how much socks cost. He said no. I told him we did not have the money to cut up the only good socks we had. I reminded him that I had told him this before and he was never to do this again. He said he was sorry as he handed my daughter her freshly made puppet.
Later that night, it hit me. I had put more value in those cheap socks than in one of God's prized possessions. And wasn't making sock puppets a wholesome way for a twelve-year-old boy to spend his time?
I went to the boy and told him that I really liked to see him and the other children being creative. I promised him a big bag of worn-out socks to use the next time he wanted to make sock puppets. The next day, in church, he beamed as he told the whole children's church that I was going to give him a bag of socks to use to make puppets.
And I was so glad that I did.
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