All of us have seen parents and children together in grocery stores, at the mall, at restaurants, at a ball game, or just on the street. I thoroughly enjoy seeing parents and children relate to each other with love, civility, even pride in their relationship. I’ve been a people watcher most of my life. I observe, form impressions, conclude, etc. quite often and in a huge variety of circumstances.

Sometimes, I want to (and often do) go up to a parent and give positive reinforcement to them. After all, any parent enjoys hearing good things about the job they’re doing! (g)

I’m afraid that I also stick my big nose into situations sometimes, especially any time a child is being abused IMMHO! I know that abuse can be in the eye of the beholder, but some parental behaviors are SO blatant and wrong that even an observant orangutan could figure it out! (g)

I parked Tonka and downloaded Sparky a few days ago. I needed to swap a defective water timer at one of those HUGE combination lumber yard/hot dog stands!

As I started for the door, I observed a grandfather protoplasm begin yelling and screaming at what seemed to obviously be his grandson. The older man was pretty much out of control. He was perspiring heavily and rapidly getting hoarse as he accused the young boy of being stupid, dumb, ignorant, irresponsible, etc. These are all terms I heard spewing from his mouth. His main complaint was that the boy had left the car unattended without locking the doors. (Yep, you guessed it. When the grandfather checked, the doors WERE locked!) The little guy just stood there, looking embarrassed (there were lots of other folks in the parking lot). When he tried to answer, he was cut off and berated some more.

The first thing that occurred to me was this: If there were a law against stupidity, I could perform a citizen’s arrest. I believe what the grandfather was doing was really behaving in a boorish, ignorant manner, not to mention unkind, insensitive (and what other terms you can supply). Had someone from Children’s Services been right beside me, perhaps they would have intervened. I really don’t know. I just knew that as the scene unfolded and escalated, I felt this overpowering need to interfere.

I rolled up to the grandfather and suggested that he calm down before he stroked out! Then, I asked him if he had any idea what tremendous damage he was doing to his grandson, not only right then, but over the very long haul. If you’ve ever had a parent who treated you that way, you’re already way ahead of me.

This poor man looked as though he didn’t have a clue and couldn’t comprehend anything I was saying. I wrote my phone number on a scrap of paper and told him that I’d be glad to discuss it more if he’d just call. I haven’t been sitting around staring at the phone, but he hasn’t called yet!

I’m sure you share my view about abusing children in any way. Maybe we all need to regularly evaluate how relationship with our own kids, grandkids, nephews, nieces, etc. Are we practicing patience, kindness, and love? Would a bystander get the impression that our kids, grandkids, etc. are cherished, loved, and cared for?

Finally, we require testing and licensing for all kinds of things such as driving, teaching, practicing law and medicine. Yet, people can become parents without any screening whatsoever. Parenthood and grandparenthood is such a privilege. Let’s treat the office with respect and do the very best job we can. Let’s ask for help from God and others when we get in over our heads.

If you have a story you want to share, or a comment on anything I’ve shared, please use the “Leave a Reply” box below!  I enjoy and appreciate hearing from you.

– Yes, we would all be surprised at the contents if we just read the label. But, in a spiritual context, as Christians, we need to make sure what people read on our “label” truly represents a Christian’s walk with God. We don’t need to send “false advertising” about salvation to the lost. We need to walk the walk if we are going to talk the talk.

– I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t do anything or buy anything if there is any fine print printed anywhere! God so loved His world and His people, that He didn’t send a committee to determine our worth for His kingdom. We are wrapped in the white robe of righteousness only because of what Jesus did, not because of what some committee wrote in the form of fine print!

– Thanks for the awakening, Jerry. How often do we even think to look at the small print. Furthermore, how many of us just can’t see that small print anymore? I carry a magnifier with me and it is still difficult to read some of the messages on packages. Thanks again.

– WOW!!!. All I can say is, “AMEN, brother”. You hit it RIGHT ON THE NOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!….

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