1. We admitted we were powerless over our children — that our lives had become unmanageable. We could not manage to get them to eat their peas, pick up after themselves, share with their siblings, complete their chores and not wait until the last moment to tell us about the cupcakes we were supposed to bake for their class.
2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. So we called our parents and asked THEM to take the kids for the weekend.
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God. We threw our hands up in the air and cried: God help us all!
4. We made a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves and discovered that our parents’ curse was working. Our kids were behaving just as we had when we were children!
5. We admitted to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. We informed our spouse that it was his/her fault for being so romantic in the first place.
6. We were entirely ready to remove these defects of character. Again, we tried to send the kids to Grandma’s house.
7. We humbly asked to remove our shortcomings. Grandma was no longer answering the phone for some mysterious reason…so we called Auntie Jenn and asked if SHE would like to have the kids for the weekend.
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. We offered to PAY Grandma, Auntie Jenn or ANYBODY to take the kids if even for just a couple of hours!
9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. Finding that no relative could be bribed, we planned a trip to Disneyland for the family instead.
10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. Again we informed our spouse that it was his/her fault for being so romantic in the first place…but that it was okay because a family vacation was just what we needed.
11. We sought to improve ourselves and find the power to carry that out. We discovered that Disneyland is a lot bigger than it first appeared and we prayed for the stamina to keep up with the kids!
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps — we decided that one more addition to the family wouldn’t kill us…and we made the most of the weekend while the older kids chaperoned the younger kids on our family vacation.
[Jelly Mom™ is written by Lisa Barker, a busy mom of five, and syndicated through Martin-Ola Press/Parent to Parent. To read more, visit www.JellyMom.com.]
