What a play date, an elevator and my xterra taught me about parenting

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January 13, 2013 by madeleinejane.

Well. I blew it. My first parenting lesson I mean…

NO, we are not pregnant, nor do we have kiddos as of yet, but I got a nice dose of what it feels like to suck it up in parenting class.

This is Rita. 2 years old. Recent addition to our family and a people-loving lab that has undergone just a few changes in her small life in the last few weeks. I was PUMPED about her coming to live with us at camp. She was suppost to come with us this summer and then it kept getting pushed back due to housing, timing, etc.

She finally moved in with us right after Christmas and I was so excited to finally have her here. We have a few dogs that call camp home and Stephen and I were excited to bring Rita into the mix.

SO excited. We took Rita to meet her new friend on camp named Bentley. The Gentle-giant, happy to see every person and ready to play with any dog, dog. This was going to be great. Wrong.

Rita was scared out of her tiny, black-lab mind. She resorted to sitting in the corner and showing teeth whenever anyone came close. She threw a nasty fit and was not voted the nicest new girl in town… as I assumed she would be.

We got home that night and I was straight embarrassed! “How dare she do that!” “Why in the world could she not play like a normal dog?!” “Should we just send her back… Maybe that would be better than this!”

I am like the mom who gets a call during church that her daughter has just bit a kid in class and you need to come get her.

I did not want anything to do with her when we got home. I did not want to be known as the “mean-teethshowing-grumpy dog’s owner”

Stephen understood, but he also gently noted, “hmm… I hope this is not how you are going to react when our kids do stuff like this someday…”

hmm.. is right.

I saw the point that in my self, my flesh, my pride, that my love for others runs out right about the time they make me look bad. That is a conditional love…that is a yucky kind of love.

Glad the LORD does not love me like that. I have shown my teeth to people I am angry at many, MANY times.

Unconditional love for people that is not based on what they do, how they act or how badly they embarrass me.

Well… with lots, lots of discipline (thats another parenting blog post for another time) and lots of patience and time… Rita is starting to thrive here. Understanding camp, her new place, her new friends…. it is happening people!

It is not easy having to wait 5 minutes for her to learn to load up in the car correctly. It is not convenient to wait in the elevator before work to get the point across that she must sit and enter/exit after we do. The no talking rule in our home has lead to many corrections, but I want to discipline her because love her, not abandon her because it is embarrassing, annoying or an inconvenience.

Again, I am so glad that God does not do that with HIS children…

Good lesson, one that I am sure to revisit, but I am glad that I saw it the first time with my 2 year old lab… rather than my 2 year old child.

Thanks Rita, we are thankful for you.