Yep. Nothing is sacred in our house.
You leave your journal out? I treat that as an open invitation to read it.
Your phone is left on the counter? Mama is checking it.
It’s just the way we roll.
We own the house. We own all the contents in the house. We own the children. We own the phones. Therefore, we can do what we want with any of these items, including reading text messages or any other means of communication between our children and other people’s children.
My kids ask about privacy. To which, I go all Madea on them and laugh … “Ha! Privacy?!? There is no privacy as long as you’re in my house.” They know the deal.
Now, don’t think I’m naive. I do realize they can delete and hide things at will, but they don’t know who they’re messing with. I am the queen of finding out information. Mama knows all.
So far, I haven’t had to crack down on the kiddos about their texting or conversations too much. They are, after all, pretty good kids.
But, there’s nothing that makes a mama prouder when she reads texts where her kids are standing up for what’s right or ones that show maybe Beau and I have done some really good things and those things stuck.
La Petite Belle is at a new school this year. Going from small, private, Christian school to large, public school is quite a transition to begin with. But, it’s even harder when that school is middle school. Middle-schoolers are definitely a different breed and mamas and teachers alike know they require lots of patience.
Girls can be mean at any age, but middle-school girls take the cake. I’ve seen it so many times. I realize they’re just trying to find out who they are or want to be. But, sometimes they bring others down on the way to their discovery.
La Petite Belle is very outgoing and friendly. She makes friends easily and is quick to find her place in any setting. There were no real issues until she came home last week and filled me in on a little girl-drama going on.
Ugh.
There were tears. Mama wanted to go and give some middle-school girls a beat-down. Made me so angry … girls telling her they don’t like her, that she doesn’t belong, excluding her. Broke my heart.
I gave her the typical mom-advice about separating herself from those girls and how she doesn’t want friends like that anyway … yada, yada, yada.
Then … because I told you … I am very good about finding out information … another mom sent me these texts, which are the actual texts La Petite Belle had with this mean girl that night (a girl that she knew from church and who she actually thought was her friend).
This is just a portion of the conversation where La Petite Belle had just asked the age-old question to this girl, “Do you like me?”. The girl had already said that all her friends did not like La Petite Belle. The girl then responds with the most heart-breaking answer, “You just don’t fit in.”
I was SO proud to read La Petite Belle’s response. (she’s in blue)
The spelling here is horrendous. Hope you can decipher it.
After this, she writes, “No offense.” Hahaha!
You go, La Petite Belle.
It’s at that point I breathed a sigh of relief , thinking about the fact that stuff we teach them really does stick!
I know that her heart was hurt. I know that she desires friendships. But, she handled this in the best way she could have. I would have handled it the exact same way (except for maybe a punch to the face, but that would nullify the “Christian” part … darnit!).
We’re praying for good friendships to be developed with girls that share her same belief system. I think we can all relate to that, even as adults. Good friends are hard to come by.
And, we’re praying that her faith would be strengthened and that her boldness would never waiver. This same girl is talking to her principal soon about starting a Bible club at school, despite the fact that she’s scared no one will come. Praying for good results from that this week!
I’m so proud of this girl.
So, mamas … read those text conversations! You may be pleasantly surprised.
Wow!! What a strong, mature girl. I hope my baby is like that when she's your daughter's age!
Wow, I am so impressed! I am so proud of her! You are doing a great job raising those girls.