Perfection

When we hold our new precious little child in our arms they are perfection to us. As they get older we want them to continue to be perfection, and when they are not we are surprised. But why are we surprised; are we as adults really perfect. Heck no, I could catalog all my mistakes and probably make a pretty good sized book out of it. So why do we expect our kids to be perfect and why are we so surprised or shocked or whatever word you would like to use, when we find out they are not. Well I do not have that answer but I did get a pretty good lesson in how kids are human (just as we are) and make mistakes (just like we do) this last week.
I received a call from the middle school principal this last week informing me that my "perfect" eldest child hit another kid in school and was now serving a three day in-school suspension. I tell you, when I was on the phone with the principal, I really was not computing/taking in what he was saying. I think I could have literally been knocked over by a stone so shocked was I. How could my "perfect" son get in school suspension?
I made it off the phone with the principal and I tell you my world fell apart. I still do not know why this hit me so hard, but it did. I cried so hard for the rest of the afternoon you would have thought someone in my family had died. Long story short, "C" had been being bullied for about 4 years about his height and he finally snapped with all the stress from moving up to Middle School. It does not make it okay what he did, hitting another child, but I now understood the "why."
So here I sit as a parent of a child who has been suspended from school, but also a parent of a child who has had to put up with a lot of bullying for along time. How can I feel so disappointed in the way my child acted, yet have compassion of why he acted this way, and how do you discipline something like this, is it enough that he had to have three days of suspension or do we need to do more at home? How do you protect your child from being bullied, when nothing is done to verbal bullies, but the minute your child stands up for himself (although not in a good choice way) he gets punished. Why did parenting not come with a manual I ask you?
Perfection is a high pedestal to put your kids on, especially when it is a pedestal you as an adult fell off a long time ago.
This I know in all truth, the only perfection that can be found is through Jesus Christ, God and the Holy Spirit. Without the trinity, we would be lost souls for eternity and we would never find perfection.
As a mother I know I will still expect my kids to make the right choices and I will be disappointed when they don't. During these times I just need to remember to pray and that the only perfection is through the greatest love there is...God's