She folded her arms, rolled her eyes and said, “You don’t know anything. You are just stupid!” The ten year old girl’s mother looked at me and sheepishly said, with her daughter glaring at her, “Oh she just in that transitional age. Not much can be done.”

I could taste blood and realized I was literally biting my tongue. Not much can be done? Really? I wanted so badly to tell this woman she had just openly admitted she wasn’t smarter than the fifth grader staring her down.

In reality a whole lot can be done and I felt sorry for the mother in advance. If her 10 year old was treating her with such disrespect now, the thought of the girl at 16 was a bit scary.

I was in the cereal aisle at Walmart when I heard the grade school aged boy standing next to me say, “Come on Mommm. This is ridiculous. Make a decision and let’s go!” His mother very calmly turned around to face him and said, “You watch your mouth. I brought you into this world and I can also take you out!”

I don’t necessarily recommend that tactic, but, hey, she made her point. The boy dropped his head and said softly, “Sorry, Mom.”

Jim Brawner didn’t insist on a lot of regulations when our kids were growing up, but disrespecting your mother was close to a federal offense. I’m not naive enough to believe my kids didn’t discuss my random spells of ignorance among themselves, but they never said it to my face. Jim had drawn line in the sand.

According to Webster, honor is to hold in high respect, extend courteous regard or show special distinction. When God was giving Moses the 10 commandments, in #5 “Honor your father and your mother” he added “that it may go well with you.” Even though our parents get smarter when we get to be about 24 or when our first child is born, we sometimes feel like stupid creeps up on them every once in a while. God didn’t say honor them when you think they are smart, He just said honor them.