Playing My Advantage

Christa's older siblings come in handy sometimes--and I'm not talking about babysitting for me.

The day after Christa discovered that backtalking me is not a wise choice, she was visiting with Katie Beth and Amy in my kitchen.

"Hey, girls," I said, as I passed through on my way to transfer laundry from the washer to the dryer, "why don't you tell Christa why it's not a good idea to backtalk me?"

As I glanced back, I saw Christa look up at her big sisters, an "Uh-Oh" look on her face. Katie Beth and Amy stopped joking with their little sister, realizing that I was sending them an unspoken message: Help me out here. Talk to Christa. Back me up on this one.

And they did, warning Christa that they, too, had tried backtalking Mom--and experienced the unpleasant consequences, just like she had.

Yesterday, Katie Beth and Amy let me in on an interesting part of their conversation. It seems that Christa told them that my discipline wasn't "so bad." And they then told their much-younger sister that's it's never wise to tell a parent that discipline isn't a big deal.

Thanks to my two older daughters, I don't need to say anything. They handled the situation beautifully.

I'm going to keep playing my advantage as a repeater mommy-come-lately. I think moms need all the help they can get--and right now, my older kiddos are a distinct advantage to me as I raise Christa. One day she'll figure it out. One day, she may even tell them things in confidence and they won't tell me--and that will be fine. I pray that her older siblings will always be a strong influence in Christa's life.