> Mean Moms
>
> Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that
> motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you
> enough . . . to ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would
> be home.
>
> I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best
> friend was a creep.
>
> I loved you enough to make you go pay for the bubble gum you had taken and
> tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."
>
> I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your
> room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.
>
> I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my
> eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.
>
> I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions
> even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.
>
> But most of all, I loved you enough . . . to say NO when I knew you would
> hate me for it. Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I
> won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children
> are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell
> them.
>
> Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the meanest mom in the whole
> world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal,
> eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to
> eat sandwiches.
>
> And you can guess our mom fixed us a dinner that was different from what
> other kids had, too.
>
> Mom insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were
> convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were
> doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour,
> we would be gone for an hour or less.
>
> We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor
> Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to
> cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all sorts of cruel
> jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to
> do.
>
> She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
> but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and
> had eyes in the back of her head.
>
> Then, life was really tough!
>
> Mom wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had
> to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could
> date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.
>
> Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids
> experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing
> other's property or ever arrested for any crime.
>
> It was all her fault.
>
> Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing
> our best to be mean parents just like Mom was.
>
> I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have
> enough mean moms!