All the WRONGS

I was headed home from the gym this morning when I caught the tail-end of a radio blurb, highlighting the top “no-no, don’t-feed-your-kid-that-food” foods. And boy, oh boy, am I sure glad I only caught the tail-end of that list! Jeepers, creepers! Based off that list (the one that was being highlighted on the Positive News segment), this mom BE receivin’ a big, fat, terrible ‘Ffffffffff.’

Don’t feed your kids boxed macaroni and cheese…check!

Don’t feed your kids fruit snacks…check!

Don’t feed your kids apple juice…check!

Don’t feed your kids granola bars…check!

Don’t feed your kids ketchup…check!

1, 2, 3, 4…who’s the mom who lost the score?!?!?! 

This mom! YAY!

This mom! ME!

And as I drove home, I mulled over the many other things I probably do but shouldn’t do.

Ya know?

Like all the things that “good moms” don’t even think of doing.

Like all the things that will probably stunt their growth, obstruct their joy, rob their futures, and ruin their lives.

Yeah. Like all THOSE things WRONGS!!!

Let’s small child drink their iced coffee…check!

Let’s small child eat hormone-infused chicken…check!

Let’s small child stay up until 10:58 PM to watch their favorite football team…check!

Let’s small child dance to the unedited version of “Uptown Funk”…check!

Let’s small child put knives in the dishwasher…check!

Let’s small child watch non-educational television for more than 20 minutes…check!

Let’s small child climb UP the slide…check!

Let’s small child use AXE (body spray, not the hatchet kind)…check!

Let’s small child eat chocolate chips at 9:45 AM…check!

Let’s small child use chemical-laden bubble bath …check!

The list of my “parental failures” could probably go on and on and on…and on and on and on. In fact, I bet a whole book could be written on ALL my mishaps and gone-wrongs. 

But ya know what I decided at 7:52 AM this morning?

I don’t want to be a parent who defines my successes and failures by a bunch of books and studies.

I don’t want to be a parent who lets the media and the magazines rule my parenting decisions.

I don’t want to be a parent who is parenting from a place of fear and a stance of comparison.

I don’t want to be a parent who is confined to a list of “do’s” and “don’ts.

I don’t want to be a parent who sits in my car and agonizes over all the things I’ve ever fed my kid but maybe shouldn’t have.

Bottom line…

I don’t want to be a parent who thinks that I have to avoid all the “WRONGS,“ so I can do it all “RIGHT.” 

No; I want more than that.

If Christ came to set us free (Galatians 5:1), then I no longer want to live as a slave under the yoke of should, must, and ought to do. 

No, I want to live a life that looks more like Colossians 3:17 and 1 Corinthians 10:31.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. 

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Oh, Lord Jesus, may you give me the grace and wisdom to parent these “loaned gifts” in your name and for your glory.