Encouragement

---

Once again, my much loved Dusty, my beloved son, my youngest child, has come home from school with numerous tales of woe. He has been banished from basketball practice for a whole week because he failed to turn in his homework in a timely manner. He has, alas, forgotten to bring home the required books in order to complete these assignments too. Tomorrow the teachers complete their interim reports, and needless to say, Dusty will face a few incompletes. On top of that, he has once again been cited for talking out of turn, and has two hundred L-O-N-G
sentences to write for that. Last week, he had two hundred and fifty. He is facing banishment from the basketball team over his lack of diligence to school work. What am I to do?

Nothing. He did it-therefore, he has to be accountable for all these things. I have no doubt as to his responsibility in these charges. He is a mighty motor-mouth, and a child who just doesn't get the whole homework thing.

No, my issues are more along the lines of--why did he and another boy get in trouble for yakking when they were yakking with girls whose parents are also teachers at the school, and these girls did not get written up? I have heard of this before, and not just from my son. No one
wants to cite the girls because they must work with the parents on a daily basis. Plus, the girls are honor roll students.

I understand the teachers may not want to deal with these children in the same way because of all the mitigating circumstances, but it sure does leave the rest of us out there with our own children. While we want them to face the music, so to speak, we want them dealt with fairly. It isn't fair to let a certain group slide by with the same exact behavior if you're going to hold a few others accountable.

I am caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. I want my child held accountable for his behavior. Yet, what can I say to him when I know he wasn't the only one who did the deed but was one of the few who got punished?

Aahh. Parenting is tough. It's a small school. How would I even approach the subject without seeming like an over-protective mom? I can't see any way, so I told my son to just do the sentences and please be quiet during class time.
It isn't fair.

Life for the most part isn't fair. Dusty needs to know this.

Incidents like these just make me so glad that God doesn't play favorites. We are all dealt with in the same ways, with the same amount of discipline and fairness. This is a fact of our existence in His Kingdom. He loves us all the same. If I do something, and you do it too, we will both be held accountable for it. I won't get away with it while you are made to suffer for it.

There is always something to be thankful for, and
this is one of those things. A reminder.

God doesn't play favorites. Count on that.

Even when other people don't play fair.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE