July 10

Have you done
your jobs yet?

Have you done your jobs yet?
Have you done your chores?
I shouldn’t have to tell you
The obligation’s yours

Have you had a shower?
Have you washed your hair?
I’m getting tired of yelling
This isn’t very fair

Are these your dirty undies?
Lying on the floor
You’re acting like a baby
I can’t take it any more

Have you brushed your teeth yet?
Have you done a wee?
You won’t be playing cricket
If you keep ignoring me

I’ve had enough of nagging
My voice is going hoarse
If you don’t start to act your age
I’m getting a divorce

“My patience, resolutions and beliefs are tested to the limits – sometimes daily.”^*

Right at this moment one of my challenges is the constant, tuneless whistling from my elder son. When my boys were babies it was getting them to sleep or trying to figure out why they were crying. On any given day now, it might be squabbling, fighting, teasing, screaming, shouting or rudeness. Who’d be a parent? We might well question ourselves after the event, but we can’t very well put them back! Just how we find those inner resources, how we constantly demand more of ourselves, how we keep marching up that hill with a smile on our face and gladness in our heart at the sight of our ‘babies’ is one of life’s mysteries.

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