~ On Puberty and Potty Training

My son is turning thirteen this week.

We've always planned for our children to have a special one-on-one trip with one of us when they hit that critical age, a kind of rite-of-passage.

A time to talk about becoming a teenager,

A chance to get to have a parent's undivided attention,

A chance to serve someone else and experience a different culture with mom or dad,

An opportunity to discuss those really private things that only a parent should teach his/her child,

and most importantly, to us...

An appointment to talk about faith and wholehearted devotion to Christ.

Since God has so amazingly crafted our family with all boys, we decided that Dad should be the one to take the boys away.

My oldest wanted to go somewhere warm, so he and his dad chose to spend this special birthday in the Bahamas with friends of ours, missionaries from our church, who serve at an Aids camp.

They will be spending a few days at the camp serving the residents and clearing some of the land for a new building project coming up.

They will be encouraging our friends in their work there.

They will spend a few days just having some daddy/son time.

I know God will use the time in our son's life to teach him many things.

What I did not count on when we were making all our plans for the trip was how the two-year-old would respond.

As we were packing the day before they left, the youngest kept saying, "I going, too, with Daddy!"

He pulled out his swimming suit, packed his suitcase, and brought down his sleeping bag and was determined that he would be leaving in the morning.

Since they left, he walks around asking where daddy is and crying, "I miss Daddy. I do! I do! I do!"

When we skyped tonight, the other boys were saying goodnight to Dad, and I looked over to see him in the corner in tears. He crawled back in my lap and said a tearful goodbye.

I'm thinking we may have to change our plans: three-year-olds and thirteen-year-olds get a trip with dad!?

It's o.k. though -

He recovers pretty quickly!

This week I glanced down at my table and started laughing. On one end of the table, there was a booklet about potty training and on the other end were books my husband had ordered about talking to your child about adolescence.

Potty training and puberty!

No one person should have to deal with both of these at the same time!