Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother . . .

"That thy days may be long upon the land." Now I know why that last part of the scripture is there. Have you ever heard a parent say, "If you want to live to your next birthday, you'd better . . . ." Often, when we try to ask the kids to do something, especially our toddler, we are ignored, fought, screamed at, dead-weighted, or delayed almost to an emotional breaking point. This morning after our baby girl woke our toddler up too early and neither would go back to bed, after our toddler screamed at the top of her soprano lungs about absolutely everything, and after I left my wife alone to get the kids ready for school, I received a text message indicating that today the kids were pushing the line. Luckily, nap time brought sweet reprieve and all was well when I got home. So much so that the kids were even cooperative at dinner. I still don't know how my wife does it. I probably would have snapped. I joked about this with my wife, but it turned out I was the only one who thought this interpretation of the scripture was humorous.