A Place to Write

I think we, as a society, are always prepared to jump to the worst conclusions about kids like J. That includes me.  We recently found out he accepted cigarettes from a friend. Knowing just that, we assumed he smoked them. He swears he didn't smoke them but asked for them so he could give them to another friend--to get him to stop smoking weed. As dumb as that sounds, I believe him. Now. But at first, and I think reasonably so, I didn't. We jumped to the conclusion that he was smoking. We got upset that it felt like he was hiding it from us. He has no idea why we would jump to that conclusion. He doesn't understand that he put himself in that situation. He doesn't understand why we would think he is smoking. He got mad at us for assuming the worst. We did the same thing several days earlier when it was getting late and he wasn't home and also wasn't answering his phone. I thought back to everything we had disagreed about. I feared he had run away. I feared h...

I think the funniest stories of your childhoods will be those stories of you all misbehaving. So let's recall a few from recent days: Last night I put Eisley and Kaybree in the bath, set out the nearly-full shampoo and conditioner bottles (because Kaybree likes to do her own) and I sat just outside the bathroom in my bedroom to read while you girls played. I came back in about 10 minutes later to find the bath water pink and Kaybree holding a completely empty shampoo bottle. That's right, the two of you had such a grand time you emptied not just one bottle but BOTH! I tried to rinse you off and couldn't because every time I dumped water in your hair I just dumped more soap on you. I had to completely empty the tub, rinse it out, and then use fresh water from the faucet to rinse you. I was so mad and you were both so distraught that I was so mad. Kaybree kept asking if there would be a consequence. I told her the consequence was that I was mad. You both kept saying sorry ...