Our son has ADHD and therefore, when he is not on his medication, he has some problems focusing on one task at a time.

I may have that, too. Hmmm…

Anyway, as he lives in a house of readers/writers/editor, we’ve been doing everything we can to encourage him to read. He struggles with Accelerated Reading at school, sometimes taking more than two weeks to finish a book that is about a grade level and a half lower than where he actually is.

We give him a mark under “Special Ice Cream” on a white board in our kitchen every time he passes an AR test with a 80 or higher. Today he has three marks.

Last night we planned to take him to Yogurtland for a treat. This is one of our favorite places, but Noah and I pass a nearby Sonic every day after school on the way home. It always has a bright flashy sign for some special ice cream treat, so he desperately wants a chocolate cheesecake blast or whatever it is.
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As we were getting ready to go out, I told my husband about the Sonic thing and asked where he wanted to go for ice cream. He loves Yogurtland and it’s healthier than Sonic, so that’s what he said.

Now, understand, we all love Yogurtland and normally, Noah ever complains about going there, but last night, boy did he complain.

“Stupid Yogurtland”

“Frickin’ Yogurtland”

and

“We go to Yogurtland every day!!!” (In reality,, maybe twice a month.)

I explained that if he was going to be so grumpy about A TREAT, we just wouldn’t go at all.

We didn’t go. He spent all the rest of the night mad and crying and begging for “another chance.”

I told him he had a bunch of chances – in fact, every minute from the time we said we were going until we said we weren’t was a chance for him to (1) apologize – meaning, honestly being sorry, hugging us and saying he loves us after saying what he was sorry for – and (2) to be HAPPY we were going out at all. He chose to be angry instead, so we didn’t go.

Teaching kids that sometimes they make mistakes and have to live with the consequences is hard. “Sorry” even said in a grumpy tone while staring at the floor is suppose to wipe the slate clean and if he insists that he doesn’t know why he’s getting a punishment point, then we’ll “realize” that he didn’t even know that being mad for going to get ice cream was unacceptable.

I wonder if God looks at us the same way and says, “If you’d just realize that you have to live with the consequences of sin, even after forgiveness, maybe you could make better choices.”