Home Schooled

Daughter #2 from her room yells, "Mommmmm!"

"Whaaat?", Wife shouts back.

Daughter #2 walking down the hall shouts, "Do I have to wash my hair tonight?"

"Yes.", Wife says to Daughter #2 who is now standing in the living room with us.

"But it's Wednesday.", Daughter #2 protest, "I didn't think I had to wash my hair on Wednesday nights?"

Wife and I share a glance and then Wife explains to Daughter #2, "We don't make you wash your hair on the Wednesday nights that we go to church in order to save time, because it is getting late and you need to get to bed. We didn't go to church tonight so you have time to wash your hair."

Under her breath Daughter #2 replies, "Humph", as she stomps (just hard enough to show her disapproval of our decision, but not draw our wrath) to the bath tub.

Funny thing is that we haven't been to a Wednesday night service for a while now, but she still asks this every Wednesday night. I know that Daughter #2 knows this and is just testing us to see if we will give in "this time", but for some reason this night it made me think a little.

This practice (not washing her hair) served a purpose (getting to bed on time) when it was started. The practice quickly became a habit or tradition for Daughter #2 , although it no longer served a purpose, she wanted to continue the practice. She made me aware of just how quickly a "tradition" can be formed and how difficult it can be to break.

Calm down. This is not a rant against tradition (I'll save that one for later!), but I did begin to wonder how many other practices have I taught her to do without teaching her the purpose behind them? How many practices do I continue in that no longer serve a purpose, but are done "just because"? Faithful follower versus mindless follower...I want to be sure that she knows the difference. Of course, I probably won't tell her how much harder it is to follow "faithfully" versus following "mindlessly" right now...wouldn't want her to go stomping off again just yet.