life beyond the well…

Tag Archives: Family


by 1 Comment

Friday Favorites- Stuff My Mom Says

Y’all, my mom is funny.  Actually she’s hilarious.  I don’t know that she intends to be funny, but she is.  Sometimes I have to refrain from laughing during a serious moment, because she says some crazy stuff.  Here are some things that my mom has said over the years that STILL have me cracking up.

  1. “My mouth ain’t no icebox.  I can’t keep nothing…” – Yes, Mom.  You’re right.  You tell EVERYTHING.  Well not everything, but almost everything.  I don’t have to be on the family email blasts, because I can just ask you.  And I love how you always front like I was supposed to know something.  “Oh, you ain’t know that __________________?  Well where you been?” Working, Mom. Working.
  2. “If I have to leave my job and come to that school because YOU don’t know how to act…you better hope that the Lord speaks to me before I speak to you because if  he doesn’t…” – She never had to finish that sentence.  I already knew what it meant.  And she never had to leave her job and come to school, because I KNEW how to act.  We’ll just call that sufficient parenting.
  3. “Well, when you get AIDS in your nose, don’t call me…” -after I was off being grown on Spring Break and got my nose pierced.  I’m happy to report that the piercing has grown on her (10 years later).
  4. “No, homegirl.  You know your boobs are too big to be in that flimsy bra.”– First, she called me homegirl.  Then she just gonna yell my info out across the lingerie section of Macy’s while searching for the appropriate undergarments to go with my prom dress. Help me Jesus. I think part of my face is still on the 2nd floor of Macy’s.
  5. “Erin, the Lord gives each of us gifts.  You are a very good reader.  You are a good athlete.  You are NOT a good singer. So, please stop singing in the car.”– This was funny because it’s true. But I was mad at the time.  She definitely said this in front of one of my friends leaving me all kinds of embarrassed.  But I was more mad that she told me I wasn’t a good singer after all those years of making me sing in the kiddie choir.  Do you know what I could have done with those Saturday mornings?

She might be crazy; she might be ridiculous; she’s DEFINITELY hilarious, and I’m so glad she’s mine.  Love you, Mom!  What are some crazy things your mother said/says?

Until next time…


by 1 Comment

Insufficient Parenting

Let me start this post by saying that I don’t have kids.  Yeah, that’s right.  I’m not a parent.  However, I am a teacher; which makes me the surrogate mother to many students.

I spend the majority of my day with teenagers and I’m struck with how differently they are being raised than when I was being raised.  This doesn’t mean that my parents were perfect- they definitely had faults, and I bet if you asked them, they would admit to making mistakes.  Nevertheless, there seems to be an epidemic of insufficient parenting going around- resulting in children who are disrespectful, lazy, ungrateful, insubordinate, and incapable of making good choices without guidance.

Here are cases where I’ve experienced students who have been victimized by insufficient parenting:

  1. Students have significant others who are allowed to live with them or have overnight visitation.
  2. Students are allowed to get fire-engine red highlights in your hair.
  3. Students are allowed to curse at, yell at, holler at, and put their hands on their parents. Without consequence.
  4. Students have school as their only responsibility, yet they are allowed to underachieve.
  5. Students are allowed to respond by saying “what”, “huh”, or “yeah” as opposed to “Yes”, “M’aam”, or “Sir”
  6. Students are allowed to wear clothes that show off their undergarments (this applies to young men and young women).
  7. Students who don’t know how to wash anything- their hands, the dishes, the clothes- because it’s always been done for them.

I’m sure there are more cases, but those were the first to come to mind.  I can only imagine how difficult it is to raise children.  The amount of love, care, and work required to be a good teacher let me know that parenting is difficult.  Nevertheless, children deserve our best.  They deserve and require limits and boundaries.  There are so many moments where I feel that a child’s life could have been different because someone told them “No.”  It would sound something like this:

  • “No, you aren’t too cute to wash the dishes.”
  • “No, you can’t go to the movies this weekend because you are failing your math class and you need to study.”
  • “No, you will not live in this house and talk to me any kind of way.”
  • “No, you will not just have this because you asked for it.  You need to earn it.”
  • “No, you can’t go to this party where I know that there will be underaged drinking and illegal drug use.”

The bottom line is that it requires effort.  Being your child’s friend is never the answer.  There were SO many moments when my mother reminded me that we were NOT friends or peers, and that we were not equals- she was in charge.  While those moments were difficult at the time, they taught me how to respect authority and understand boundaries.

I promise, if I keep seeing all these cases of insufficient parenting, I’m gonna have to do a parenting workshop.  The first lesson will be: “Your Child’s Problems- It’s all YOUR Fault”.  Yeah.  It’s like that.

Let’s stop the insufficient parenting before we lose this generation.  Thanks.

Until next time…