madameblogalot

Earlier this week my son went to spend the night with a friend. He had only been there about fifteen minutes when his friend got in trouble with his dad. My son is not sure what really happened, but decided he would just come on home since it did not look like the situation would cool down anytime soon.

The next morning as I ran past their house, I said a little prayer for the boy and his dad. I know it is hard and I have no idea what went on in their discussion the night before. That got me to thinking about how it is so easy for people on the outside to look at one isolated situation and make judgments about what should have been done or how it should have been handled. I know it has happened numerous times with my own family.

To the person on the outside, they do not know what has happened previously to lead up to this particular moment. I may have said if such and such happened again, there would be a consequence. So a seemingly insignificant matter to someone else could actually be an ongoing problem in my own home. Or perhaps there is a certain thing we are working on and trying to curb in our children. Maybe this child has a particular tendency or weakness for a certain thing. Even well meaning by standers do not know what has been going on and why I may or may not react a certain way. It seems so easy for someone on the outside looking in to tell you how you should have handled it better.