The Ol' Running Away Ploy

Once I was so angry with my parents that I threatened to run away from home. I was too chicken to tell them face to face, so I wrote it in a note. I didn't actually run away but my mom found the note. She then threatened for her and daddy to run away from me. That scared me. I didn't want to really lose my parents. They were my security.

Growing up, I had a good childhood. My parents were protective and strict. At times my sister and I felt that they were unfair, but we never told them that. Sometimes we were scared of our dad, but we never doubted his or mom's love for us. We didn't have a lot of money, but it never seemed to matter.

Now I have 3 kids of my own. My older two have never run away from home, and my youngest can't even crawl yet so that would be an impossibility. They do complain about their "miserable" life. I don't understand why. We too don't have a lot of money, but we do try to create great childhood memories for them. They have rooms full of toys, bicycles laying in the yard, and a video game system in the middle of the living room floor. I have thrown the football in the yard with them, painted with them, played video games with them. They have food in their tummies, clothes on their back, and a roof over their head. And yet there comes the momment when they have to inform me that they have "miserable" lives.

I take offense to it. I never called my life "miserable". But then I think that my sister and I are not my two older kids. (my youngest just drools on me.) I make the mistake in thinking that they are not happy because every once in awhile they call their life "miserable". So what do I do. I tell them that I take offense to it. That I work hard to give them the things that they already have and that if that makes their lives miserable then I give up. Sort of like my mom threatening to run away from me. It must scare them, so they usually retract their statement.

Thanks for the lesson, Mom!