Dear Emi,

To say that this mornings routine was interrupted by one very grouchy child, would be understating the entire affair.  Knowing that the unnamed child was tired and adjusting to a new school schedule, I tried to be kind and patient...and then kind and patient...and then I tried to just be quiet because Patient and Kind were quickly leaving the scene.

Finally it was time to walk to the bus stop.  As we walked, and got closer and closer to his peers, his demeanor seemed to MAGICALLY change.  At first I was relieved, and then I was MAD.  As the bus drove up the street I said my last goodbyes and I love you's and then I turned to him and said, "Please try to be nice happy at school, not like this morning."  With utter disdain he turned to me and said, "Ugh!  Mom, I always act nice at school!"

He obviously missed Grandma Foster's Family Home Evening at Bear Lake this year when she taught us about being kind to our FAMILY members.  Saying over and over, "Be NICER to your FAMILY than you are to your FRIENDS"  (which is not an excuse to start treating your friends badly).

Whenever I see people treating their family badly I think of a quote from one of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, said the expert devil to the devil in training, "The great thing is to direct the malice to his IMMEDIATE NEIGHBORS whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know.  The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary.

 And no, I am not going to start quoting C.S. Lewis to my 7 year old, but I might quote his grandpa     It reminds me of the times I heard him teach the church lessons on "love thy neighbor."  He would ask, "who is your neighbor?"  The class, with a sense of pride, would say, "EVERYONE."  In turn he would say, "That is a sad excuse.  It does little good for your character to feed the children in Ethiopia when you can't even help the people you live by."

Emi, mind your grandma and be nicer to your family than you are to your friends.

Love, your Grandma, who is currently planning and early night for a 7 year old.

P.S.  Miss Maudie, Atticus Finch's neighbor once said of him.  'Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets.'  Today (and most days) Atticus is my hero!