Family Meetings and a Can of Coke...

It’s not everyday when my son calls a “family meeting”. In my mind, family meetings involve heavy conversations, some crying, a resolution and hugs. This was going to be interesting. Ryan and I sat at the foot of Bryce’s bed awaiting the topic of discussion. Bryce looked up at God for strength, took a deep breath and mustered up all of his courage to ask us, “Have you ever done anything really bad like say a bad word or hit anyone?” My son is incredibly innocent and, in his eight year old mindset, saying curse words is quite possibly the unpardonable sin.
Ryan answered in a very kind, fatherly way. He let him know that Daddy has made mistakes but God still loves him. Ryan gave a couple examples of when he messed up and how he received forgiveness. He told Bryce that his mom and dad used to pray with him to stop saying bad words and we can do the same for him. Wow, good answer Ryan. Ok, now it’s my turn to share some pearls of wisdom.

I admitted that I had said bad words and that people say those things for different reasons (i.e. bad language can be used out of anger, to be cool in front of friends, etc.). Then I explained to him that I used to have a cursing problem in 4th grade. Once, I had foolishly cursed in front of my parents because I opened a can of soda and it exploded. I concluded with letting him know that people make mistakes and that he can talk to us if he is struggling.

I think that portion of the lesson was completely lost on Bryce. I looked at my sweet, pure boy and his eyes were huge. He was in absolute disbelief that his mom would commit something that is so deplorable. He was speechless for a few seconds. Then he asked Ryan, “Dad, did you know Mom back then? Why would you want to marry someone who says bad words? I mean, who gets that mad over a can of soda?”

Maybe Ryan should be the only one to talk at family meetings…