The story is told of a father, tired after a long day at the office, returning home and look forward to sitting in his recliner with the evening newspaper. He wanted to unwind a little, but was having trouble when his six-year-old daughter kept trying to talk to him. Feeling a little exacerbated, he pulled a page out of his paper and tore it into several big pieces. It was a large picture of the world and he thought it would make a good, impromptu puzzle.
"Here you go, Suzie," he said, handing her the pieces and a roll of tape. "See if you can put this puzzle of the world back together again and then we will talk."
He thought that would buy him at least 15 or 20 minutes of quiet, but the little girl was finished in under 3 minutes. The father was amazed and thought to himself, "My daughter must be a genius!" Aloud his said, "Suzie. How did you put the map of the world together so quickly?"
"It was easy, Daddy. There is a picture of a home on the back. I just put the home together and the world took care of itself."
By now, you've probably noticed that I am tackling a lot of counseling issues at the Couch. In August, we discussed grief; September, addiction recovery. These are all issues with which I dealt in over 25 years as a counselor and educator.
For the next few weeks, I'd like to write about parenting. This was a big part of my practice because if we strengthen our homes, we strengthen our lives and our societies.
I hope you will join me at the Couch for the next few weeks and we will strengthen our families together.
Picture of earth from www.everettarearerealestate.com
Picture of home fromInstant Art to Warm the Heart by Debbie G. Harman; www.convenant-lds.com
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