I so enjoyed Mrs Chancey’s replies to the questions readers posed here.  I share many of her thoughts. Some favorites:

"A child left to himself brings shame to his mother."  Prov 29:15  This one has always rung true.  Though another truth is that children who are supervised will occasionally do horrifically embarassing or undesirable things as well. Still, many small troubles can be avoided by your presence. Which brings us to her next thought:

"99% of our frustration with our children comes from the fact that we ourselves are selfish and do not want to set aside our own plans for the day to deal with foolishness."  And lets face it, who DOES want to deal with foolishness?  But children (and puppies) respond best to immediate feedback. Mrs Chancey says, this means "being willing to drop whatever it is we are doing (the phone call, chores, gardening, –anything) to deal with the trouble."  It does not mean making the children stop bothering us which is a huge clarification. It means "Nothing is more important than training the children."

These ideals are consistent with the Montessori admonition to observe, observe, observe. We can’t observe when we are on the phone, at a meeting, or on the internet. Did I just say that?  Yes.  That is the hardest truth of all.  I have nothing but admiration for a dear gypsy woman I adore who has made selfless choices to ensure that nothing sidetracks her from this vocation. We can surf for schedules, we can print endless chore charts, we can attend innumerable mom’s nights out.  None of it is worth beans if we aren’t here, face to face with the little people entrusted to us.

I am not "super mom". I have children with behavior challenges, some more than others. I have no "super" answers. After 21 years of mothering, in fact, I still have only one simple answer – be home, be involved, be content. This year has stretched our family in ways I could not have foreseen. It has served to drive home yet again what my priorities are and they are all under this roof.  As I was reminded yesterday if these difficulties served to bring this conviction back to the forefront of our minds then they were not for naught.