Wake-Up Call

Are your kids giving you a hard time? I once read about a 12-year-old girl who “set her sleeping mother’s bed on fire and took off in the family car to fake an abduction of herself and her two younger siblings.” You know you’re having a bad day when you wake up to find your bed on fire!

The 29-year-old mother of the girl and her 8-year-old brother and 6-year-old sister called 911 when she awakened to find her bed on fire and her children and automobile missing. When the police finally caught up with the children, the 12-year-old said they had been kidnapped and forced to drive south while the abductor followed behind in another vehicle.” ¹

She eventually admitted she made it all up.

Something is Broken

What motivates a young girl to do something like that? What does that say, if anything, about her home life? Why would a 12-year-old girl try to kill her mother? What was she running away from? We don’t have the answers to these questions, but we know she was definitely troubled about something.

The 12-year-old girl was taken to a juvenile detention center to be held for arson and attempted murder. That’s not the best way to enter your teen years.

As parents we need to carve out time to be with our children; to listen to their concerns, needs, and dreams. Life in the city and suburbs moves so fast. We can easily burn up all of our time just trying to survive. When this happens our existence ceases to be meaningful!

Ask God to give you the wisdom to be the kind of person He wants you to be.

If you liked this, you may also like Children Are a Delight | Why Spending Quality Time With Your Children Is Important 

Rich DuBose writes from Northern California.

1. Associated Press, November 2006

© 2002 - 2024, AnswersForMe.org. All rights reserved. Click here for content usage information.