Remembering to Laugh

I have beautiful children.  I do.  They are capable, smart, reliable, happy, kind, good and praiseworthy.

And then they come home from school.

Apparently, they can only be good for so long.  Don't get me wrong, we have some lovely moments at home.  It still melts my heart when one of my kids will stop what they are doing to help their brother or sister, or when we share one of our inside jokes and everyone laughs.  I am glad some of them still ask me to read to them as they cuddle up next to me or lay across my lap so I can scratch their back.  I love it when one starts singing a song and everyone else joins in or when the boys play violin duets together. 

But lately there have been too many of the eye-rolling, name-calling, frustration-filled interactions.  It gets old.  It gets old watching them all get up from the table and head to the living room as soon as their plate is clean even though it's a family rule that no one leaves until everything is cleared and cleaned up.  It gets old hearing their excuses for bad behavior because apparently it's never their fault.  Only two of them are teenagers, but I tell you, that's gotten old really fast.  Who is this wicked fairy that comes and trades them out for an evil twin on the eve of their 13th birthday?  

I know my kids know how to be good.  If I can believe all the things I hear from their teachers then they are successfully navigating the big world outside our door and making a difference.  It's the little world inside that I'm most concerned with right now.  I know it's human nature to "give the least to those who matter most," but that doesn't make it right.  At times like these, I have to consciously try to keep a positive perspective because it's way too easy to fall into despair and wonder, "What happened?"

And so, when I come across quotes like this, I laugh:

Mothers of teenagers understand why

some animals eat their young. 

I get it.  I do.