July 25: Lucky Kids are Lovable!

It's lucky the parent-child bond comes naturally and built-in with overwhelming and unconditional love.

Otherwise, how else would we put up with a 13-year-old Boy Wonderful who refuses to do dishes, preferring instead to zone out in front of the Simpsons? We eventually got him to contribute to the daily chores by reminding him of his "car accident" last weekend (and how he owes us for the damage to the house). Hey, who said "guilt-trips" are the property of Jews and Catholics?! When it comes to guilt-trips my mum is the ultimate travel agent, so I learned from the best, ha ha.

Boy Wonderful was reversing Trevor-the-ute from behind the house to the driveway when he looked up, saw Gavstar and I with shocked looks on our faces, and instead of hitting the brakes he hit the accelerator and slammed full force into the house.

Not much damage done, but at least it looks bad enough that we've got a guilt-edged bargaining tool for some assistance with daily chores!

Today I am thankful for the many types of education I have received -- both positive AND negative -- so that I can use both with discretion.