No Mercy

Fair Warning guys this is going to be a short blog. I am EXHAUSTED. My body woke me up at 4:30 this morning because I thought I was going to be late for my workout. I was not, I was early. I had an awesome day but right now my pretty eyes are nearly sealing shut with eyeliner as I type this.

This blog is about someone who is very dear to my heart. The boy peeking around for the pillar above. He's just a little boy in this picture. He's now a 13 year old teenager. He's all the annoying things a teenage boy is. He's loud, obnoxious, talks mostly in memes, and he gets in trouble a bunch.

Connor has spent his entire summer grounded. My husband is a throw the book at him kind of guy. We started a system this summer where they can earn their way out of being grounded by earning a certain number of points. Connor was at 3000 points and going up. Honestly, he's a good and kind kid but he hates doing work and he hates being told what to do. My husband and Connor go head to head and he gets grounded after every interaction even more.

Connor was to the point where he felt like there was no way out. He completely quit doing anything. My entire day was spent staring at him staring back and it wasn't good for us. My husband is of the opinion Connor should stay grounded until he finally digs his way out of this debt. I want Connor to have a chance. Yesterday,  I didn't erase his points but I reset them to 500 plus his weekly 600 and told him he had to earn all of his weekly points and his grounded points before he could be ungrounded. My husband was SUPER angry about it.

I'm not complaining about my husband in this post. I simply do not understand that way of thinking. I don't understand the idea that a child should never be offered mercy. However, I understand that I am particularly merciful. Mercy is one of my spiritual gifts right up there with compassion and hospitality.

These are the thoughts I ponder tonight. I pray my son grows into a strong, brave, brilliant, kind, hard working, and wonderful adult in spite of me. I pray he follows his passion and his heart. I pray he always finds laughter in every situation. I pray my son builds his empire of robots and conquers the evil in the world. He is so good... so very very good and I pray that maybe he knows just a little bit how much I believe he can do anything. I love him with every fiber of my being. Thank you for being my son Connor. You are my special boy.

Gratitude List
1) Connor
2) Connor's humor
3) Connor's stories
4) Connor's taste in music
5) Connor's' ideas
6) Connor's imagination
7) Playing games with Connor
8) Playing disc golf with Connor
9) Going swimming with Connor
10) Being Connor's Mom

Things I have accomplished
1) walking hand in hand through the woods with my kid
2) teaching Connor to walk and talk (of which he's become quite the expert)
3) being Connor's cheerleader

Does your husband and oldest child get along? How do you protect your child and respect your son? Do you think Mercy is a good thing?