Fast Food Fury!

We road tripped to Nebraska and Colorado a few weeks ago for our annual Village Missions conference. We stopped of at our favorite spot in Nebraska and stayed at the Shaw Hunting Lodge! That's always a treat. So in all we were on the road for 10 days. We slept in 4 different places and well, you know how the routine goes when you travel!

As a lovely birthday gift, we got to drive all day through Nebraska on I-80. I've always wanted to do that for my birthday! The kids were all tired and ready to get home and so were we. We stopped at good ol' Mickey D's for breakfast and Grant had some issues. He told us what he wanted to eat, then changed his mind 50 times. When we sat down he refused to eat what he got. We offered him some other choices and he just freaked out. It always takes us by surprise when this happens with him because he is normally very laid back and even keeled. Since I didn't want to hear him cry for the next 5 hours, I gave in and ordered him what he wanted and he was happy. (Mike, however, was not!)

Last night, he had a "sleep" over with his friends. The problem was that he didn't "sleep" all night. I had to run a few errands and he was tired and cranky and hungry. So we went to Wendy's and he did the exact same thing! He couldn't decide then he wasn't happy with what he got and demanded a double cheeseburger. I think his exact words were "Get me a double cheeseburger NOW!" That didn't go over very well. So he went to the van without lunch and has been sleeping ever since we got home.

I hate dealing with that stuff. Part of me wants to give in, I mean it's not like we didn't have that $2 for the cheeseburger. But that really wasn't the issue. This time I could see a pattern in his behavior and I knew we needed to stop it ASAP. No matter how tired he is, it doesn't mean he can act like that. And looking back I probably should have put my foot down on the way home from Colorado too. But I guess each situation has to be dealt with in its own way. Soon enough, he is going to be too big for me or Mike to physically force him to leave a restaurant or go to the van. When he gets older, we could just leave him there, but I'd feel too sorry for the workers.

I think it is hard to calmly hold the line and follow through. I want the easy way out but that isn't usually for the best. It's hard to make a split second decision and know you are doing the right thing. I always seem to be second guessing myself. Now, we have to work on connecting his behavior to his heart. He needs to see his actions as selfish and unpleasing to God. I guess I'll have to talk to him about it when he wakes up!

Proverbs 19:18
Discipline your son, for in that there is hope;
do not be a willing party to his death.