Kids Being Kids at Christmas
In the late spring and summer of 1943, Generals Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton led American soldiers as they joined with Allied forces to fight German troops, first in North Africa and then in Italy. In November U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Russian Premier Joseph Stalin met in Tehran, Iran, to discuss plans for an Allied invasion of Italy.
On the home front, Brantley Elliott worked at the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation factory in Nashville, Tennesse, which built P-39 “Lightning” fighters and O-49 observation planes for the U.S.military.
Fred and his wife Anna had four children, Lee (age 12), Sue (age 8), William (age 4), and Ann (age 2). Ann had been born with a cleft palate. That fall Ann’s doctor believed the time was right for surgery to repair her palate. The family was devastated when she died on the operating table.
Anna fell into a dark depression. In December she sent Lee to the neighborhood store for some items they needed. Twelve-year-old Lee returned with Christmas lights. In his childish way, he knew his family needed light and cheer more than the other things on Anna’s list.
Throughout the 1960s, Lou worked long hours to supplement her husband Lee’s low pay. She was plagued by memories of a difficult childhood. She never felt that she quite measured up to the women around her. As Christmastime approached, she had two wishes: a pair of black leather pumps and a matching leather handbag.
Her daughter Diane (age 11) went Christmas shopping with her daddy to find just what her mother longed to have. The shoe salesman assured little Diane that leather was “going out” and that imitation leather was replacing it. Diane and her daddy went home with imitation leather pumps and a matching bag.
On Christmas morning Diane watched her sweet mother open her well-meaning husband’s gift, feeling in her heart that she had failed.
Diane grew up feeling responsible for both her parents, but happily when she became a mama, she decided to be the mama and let the kids be the kids. Cycles can be broken.
When my children were young, I used to listen to Dr. Laura sometimes when I was doing errands around town. In each show, this popular radio psychologist repeated her signature line: “I am my kid’s mom.”
When we are kids, we should be allowed to be kids. When we are parents, we need to be parents. Thank you for being your kid’s mom. And thanks for teaching them, too.
Hear, my son, your father’s instruction
And do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
Proverbs 1:8, NASB