Just a Childhood Prank?

I found myself in a interesting predicament last week.

My eldest daughter Ashley (14 in the next couple of months) was invited over to a friends house for a sleepover birthday party. At first I hesitated, knowing the last few parties these girls have been getting a little carried away, but since it was at one of the pastors daughters of our church girls, I decided not to worry and to let her attend. Ashley is incredibly mature for her age, and gets complimented on it regularly, but she is still just a girl. Saturday I ran over to pick her up before her dad got back into town to have them the remainder of the weekend.

Ashley gets into the jeep and starts talking 100 miles per hour. Of course for anyone who knows me well, yes yes she is much like me and we can understand each perfectly! She starts telling me immediately that they went out and tp'd (toilet papered) a friend (neighbors) house last night around midnight. A cop came up and checked out what they were doing, other teenagers were apparently out tagging, and a group of other teenagers ran up and spooked them. Childhood prank? The part that keeps confusing me even still today is that the mom was the one to drive them over to do this. Call me old fashioned, but I don't want my children doing something like this. She knew that.

Immediately she says to me, I have my hole morning planned out mom (the whole 'hour' she has before her father shows up). She immediately wants to go over and help the boy and his mom clean up the yard, her conscience had gotten the better of her, and she was feeling completely guilty. She even spent most of the time in the car not feeling like she could do as much as the other girls. By the time she went over they had already gotten the yard cleaned up, and no one was home. Then her dad showed up.

I was perplexed. Was I wrong in my thought process? I know my dad would have whipped my rear had I done anything like that as a kid, but even still is that the reason why I didn't agree with it. I thought about this the rest of the day and then went to church Saturday night. I prayed on the way over, "Lord please help me and give me an obvious open door to discuss this with the mom of the birthday girls, or Ill take it as a sign to let it go" I guess my lesson learned, when you pray specifically, be prepared for the Lord to answer you!

As I entered into church (remember I attend a HUGE church) guess who was walking straight at me. Ugg, Lord Im uh uh uh really I didn't mean to be so specific, uh uh uh. Immediately she asked if I had heard about the antics and I told her I had, but that I was a bit disappointed. She quickly dismissed it as well these boys do this all the time, what comes around goes around. Needless to say, that conversation didn't go so well. But I let it go. Immediately after church, however, she came right back and apologized to me. Im not sure if it was the sermon "Can you hear HIM now" is our new series, on the Voice of God, of just the leading of the Holy Spirit, but all the same....the conversation that followed made me feel much better.

What did I learn you ask? It is SO hard being a single parent and questioning your beliefs each and every day. I also don't think I can go wrong being a little bit old fashioned in my thoughts. My daughter, has a conscience! But, she is still a young girl. In one moment I felt so proud of her, and the other I was sad I had allowed her to be put in a position that I still don't really know how to guide her to respond to in the future. How do you fit into the crowd without making waves? Should a child at 14 even have to worry about this?

The worst of it is that this is just the beginning. The best part of it, seeing your children struggle but know what is right and wrong, and why! I don't have the answers, maybe I never will. But I just take each day as it comes and try to provide the best training ground possible for my children before they take the world on. My kids will make a difference!