my boy

my boy
playing nice in the world's sandbox

Friday, March 07, 2008

Mean Moms

I'm sure most of us have seen this before, no doubt in an email with 1245 other email addresses in the "CC to:" field.

Enjoy. I personally plan on printing this out when Eddie turns 11.



Mean Moms

Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that
motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean 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 candy for breakfast, we had to have
cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch,we had
to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was
different from what other kids had, too.

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 said 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 and all sorts of cruel jobs.
I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do. 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 12 or 13, 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!

PASS THIS ON TO ALL THE MEAN MOTHERS YOU KNOW.(And Their Kids)

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