By Stephen C. Schultz
I’m the father of four children. Three daughters and a son! My oldest, Stephanie, is 18. Then there is Ryan 17, Amanda 13 and Emma 9.
I’m the father of four children. Three daughters and a son! My oldest, Stephanie, is 18. Then there is Ryan 17, Amanda 13 and Emma 9.
Several months ago I walked in the door after work one evening and decided to order pizza for dinner. I asked Stephanie to take the car and go pick up the pizza after her mother ordered it. Amanda wanted to go with her sister and little Emma soon followed. I said it was fine for Amanda to go help her sister and I told Emma that she needed to go get washed up and ready for bed before the pizza arrived. Emma started to throw a little fit, but soon stopped when she realized it wasn’t going to work.
Stephanie and Amanda walked passed me out the door towards the garage. Emma disappeared and I assumed she went upstairs to wash up. About ten minutes later, my cell phone rang and Stephanie’s number appeared on the screen. As most parents would, I had flashes of her being in an accident.
I was surprised to hear Emma’s drawn out tearful voice saying, “Daaaaad, I need to tell you something.”
I said, “Oh yeah Emma, what’s that?”
She responded, “Daaaaad, I snuck out the side door and went with Stephanie. I’m sorry. Am I going to be in trouble?”
I said, “Well Emma, I’m glad you called. We will talk about it when you get home.”
The girls got home with the pizza and there was nothing else said. Emma was nervous and went right upstairs to get ready and washed up. We had dinner and when I went to tuck the girls in bed, I sat on Emma’s bed and talked with her.
I said “Emma, why did you sneak out?”
She said, “I wanted to go with Stephanie and Amanda.”
“Did you know that you were being disobedient?” I asked.
She responded, “Yes”.
I asked, “Does it feel good or bad to be disobedient?”
She said “Bad”, her eyes tearful and looking at the blankets.
I said, “Hon, you know what, it must have taken a lot of courage for you to call me!”
She looked up at me and grinned! I hugged her and tucked her in. “We’ll talk about this more tomorrow.”
My purpose in sharing this isn’t to boast about my parenting skills or allude to an outside chance that I’m some kind of “Parent Guru”! Heaven knows that with four “women” in the house, I have my share of screw ups!
The look in her eye was priceless as I mentioned her courage in calling me as opposed to a lecture for her sneaking out.
Should she get caught sneaking out as a teenager...all bets are off!
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