A lesson from Ralph and Sam

One of these guys is Ralph and one is Sam. Ralph is the coyote his job is to try to eat the sheep, Sam is the sheepdog and his job is to protect the sheep. In the morning they show up for "work" greet each other cordially and get down to business, at the end of the day they clock out say good night and head home.

Thanks to Julie, I no longer see Ralph and Sam here. I see Kids and Mom. See I am the sheepdog, (is that better than a cow?) my kids are the coyote. Every morning we come to work, they do what they do, I do what I do. They test the boundaries and the rules I enforce the boundaries and the rules. It is my job. But at the end of the day we can all love one another, hugs and kiss and goodnight. Tomorrow we will do it all again. Why? Because God's mercies are new every morning and Mom's should be to.

I do wish I could take credit for this analogy, but alas I cannot. Julie shared it with me and she heard it from some wise person I am sure :) I like it, not because it is a perfect analogy, I am not at war with my kids all the time, they do take some time off to play, but because it reminds me that it is my job to discipline and correct my kids when they are going in the wrong direction. Even though it is NOT their job to test and disobey, it is in their nature. Coyote eat sheep when they can get their hands on one and a child will eat a peanut butter cookie if it is just sitting there, with nobody guarding it... If it were not in the nature of the coyote to attack the sheep there would be no need for sheep dogs and if it were not in the nature of a child to test and disobey Moms would be optional. I LOVE being needed and I am NOT optional.

FTR (for the record) I do not condone head bashing, pipe smoking or the use of dynamite by all you other sheepdogs out there, I just thought this was funny...