Teaching a lesson to many

It’s a long story but it's worth it and I felt the need to share it with everyone.

Today I watched my dad give a lesson to a young child, while also teaching me something at the same time. It was a very important and moving lesson.

I had my father pick me up at my house today, so we could go to my grand-fathers house together. Being a year since his passing, I wanted to go back to the house to give my condolences and to feel the memories there one more time.

My dad began backing out of my driveway slowly, we both noticed that were a couple of young kids riding around the street on their bikes. He continued to back out but with more caution. Once he was backed out enough, and the children were not around, he proceeded to drive forward to our destination.

We probably didn't drive a few seconds away from my house before he stopped his truck and began backing up. Quickly but carefully however. He stopped his truck about two houses down from ours and placed his truck in park.

What I am seeing, from the passenger seat, are the two children riding towards the house we just stopped in front of. I'm thinking that they most likely live there.

My dad unbuckled his seat belt, looked at me and said "Wait here", then got out of his truck.

I wasn't sure if he was mad about something or if something happened or if saw someone he knew and wanted to say hello. (It is very normal for Dad to run into someone he knows or knows him, no matter where we are. Dad knows a lot of people.)

It just so happens that one of the young kids decided to flip my dad off as he was driving away from my house.

Dad was not impressed with the child's actions and decided to discuss it with the child's father.

I looked over at the house again and noticed that the children's father was walking from the front door towards my father.

My dad met this man at the end of their yard and began discussing what had happened.

The child's father seemed surprised by what happened and had asked his son to explain what happened. The young boy tried to convince his father that he used "the ring finger", then shortly realizing that he was caught.

The young boy's father asked his son to apologize for what he did and then to shake my father's hand.

The boy apologized for what he did and shook my father's hand. My father thanked the boy for apologizing like a young man, shook his hand back, then shook the young boys fathers hand finally.

The young boy's father is not at fault hereby any means.

My dad just wanted to teach the boy to be mindful of his actions. He wanted to teach him that every decision that is made, has a consequence. Every consequence can be worse than others.

But that needed to be taught by the young boy's father.

My dad is the kind of man that will call someone out on their bullshit. That won't allow things to just slide. He's a respectful and respectable man. He gives what is given. But he is also a great father. He's always tried to make sure that Trina and I were raised properly. All four of our parents did, we were blessed with amazing parents! We were taught to have manners and how to use them properly, to say please and thank you, to be polite, to be kind, treat other how we would like to be treated. We were raised to be proper ladies. But we were not spoiled (Yes and no). We were spanked. We were grounded. We've had our toys taken from us. We've had our phones taken from us. We were like any other couple of girls growing up.

The biggest lesson out of all of this, is how we parent our kids. How we teach our kids to love themselves and other people. How to be respectful. How to be proper. The things that we do as adults, our children are seeing and watching and learning. Sometimes we can't see or hear about everything that our kids are doing. It is up to us to discipline our kids so others don’t have to remind us. (Not that that was what my dad was doing, he legitimately did not want something to happen to this kid so he wanted to teach him a lesson) Our kids are learning new things every single day. Other kids teach our kids things too. Peer pressure is a real thing. We want to teach our kids to be kind to everything and everyone. We want to teach our kids that life is precious and we should everyone in it with respect and kindness.

There will be a day when my husband and I will be faced with a similar situation and I will always think of this moment today. It is up to us with how society is growing. Our next generation depends on it.