The following bit of wisdom is brought to you by the lovely and talented Mrs. Peterson whose words are in bold.

Recently I heard one of my children make a statement about boyfriends & girlfriends that made my ears hot and my gut twisted. I disagreed with the statement, but she adamantly defended it.

I asked, “Where did you hear that?” She gave the name of someone from whom I do not want my children to learn when it comes to those matters.

I was mad. In my mind I was already putting together my diatribe.

When the dinner table was cleared I asked the lovely and talented Mrs. Peterson how she would deal with this. She said, “Honey, you’ve got to train your kids. You can’t always attack others when they say silly things. You’ve got to teach your kids to discern foolish from wise counsel.”

As is normally the case, Mrs. Peterson is right.

I suppose I could follow my six daughters around for the rest of their lives pounding on people who say stupid things to them… or I could save some time and teach them to be wise.

So two good things have happened as a result of this conversation:

1. I avoided saying something mean for which I’d have to undoubtedly apologize.
2. I was reminded of my responsibility as a teacher in our home.

Thanks Mrs. Peterson.