Trust

I don't think I have thought about the word trust much before until my fifteen year old son, Braedon, threw it in my face on Sunday.

My husband sold his ATV to my older son and so we bought a new go-cart so he can have a toy to play with. We had all taken a turn riding it through the cul-de-sac to make sure there weren't any kinks before we take it up to the cabin. Braedon even had his share of turns. But Sunday when I was taking Scott to the airport Braedon called and asked if he could take the go-cart over to the school and ride it. I told him that the go-cart isn't street legal and that he couldn't. That's when he says, "It's because you don't trust me!" I told him that wasn't the case but he just kept throwing the trust word in my face. When he finally said he wouldn't ride it, I said, "And I trust that you won't".

For some reason it has really bothered me that he would even say that I don't trust him. Unfortunately I have trusted him and maybe too much at times. I was raised this same way. My parents always said when we were growing up that they gave us enough leash to hang ourselves and sometimes we nearly did. I have almost always let the kids do whatever they wanted; they know what our standards are and I expect them to uphold them. My main criteria is that I know where they are, who they are with and when they will be home. I have trusted him when he has told me something that is what he has meant, and last week he let me down. Since he broke that trust I've told him that he will have to earn it back.

I hope this will be something he more fully understands when he is grown with a family of his own.....just as I hope all my children will know.