So,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some kids can be nice, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others are not as nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember a time when I was just a wee lad. I was playing basketball at the park closest to where I lived. I had just finished and was walking off the court. I remember that I left so that I wouldn’t be out later than when my parents wanted me home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some people (two girls) that I knew from school walked up to me and asked if they could play. I told them that I had to get home by whatever time it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They laughed and knocked the ball from my hands, teasing me and saying something to the effect of ‘Well, maybe you just don’t want to play with us’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I assured them, “No, I have to go.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few minutes later, I’m starting to panic a little. I didn’t want to get in trouble for getting home late. I tried to get the ball from them but they kept playing “keep away” and kept it far away from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I started to cry. I didn’t know what else to do, and I couldn’t very well take the ball from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elizabeth and Kendra didn’t seem to care. They laughed some more and said, “Oh, you are such a baby… two girls are going to make you cry?! how stupid”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a minute or so, they relented and gave me my ball. They mentioned that it would be funny if kids at school found out about this event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They grew up, as all kids do. They probably never really gave that interaction a second thought. Here I am, 40 years old now, and I can still remember how that made me feel from back then. It was not fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My kid, Arabella, recently had a run-in with some local kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was wearing this beautiful pink dress that said “Barbie” across it. She is a fan of Barbie, so yeah, she wore it. The kids all gathered around her and immediately started picking on her. Telling her that she dressed like a kindergartener or a first grader. They laughed. She cried and ran home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She came in the front door, ran straight to her room, and went to bed. Sky was able to get to the bottom of things. Once I found out, I have to say, my blood boiled a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I thought of when my mom told me she was once circled by other kids who didn’t like her in school. They made fun of her last name and kicked her while doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I later was on the phone and told my dad about the incident. He told me about a story he had when he was also just a tike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was sick and ended up staying home from school for the week. He didn’t remember what he was sick with, only that he was sick and was at home that week. Well, the teacher let them all write letters to my dad. He read them and said the girls wrote some nice “get better” letters. But there were a couple of guys who wrote him and put “DDDD” for Drop Dead Dumb Dewey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hadn’t even heard him tell this story before now. Amazingly, you remember others’ actions and words so vividly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kids can be so harsh, and mean and never really know the impact of their words. We should be speaking life – and I know that it’s easy to say… but that’s what we strive for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We ended up texting all the parents of the kids who were involved. What happened? They apologized, and later, 3 out of the 5 she was hanging out with) told her that they didn’t want to hang out with her anymore. That she is more of a bother than not, and to just leave them alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have no words, other than to say I held my tongue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words we pick hold immense influence over our reality and the experiences of those we interact with. By speaking words of affirmation and encouragement, we can help to foster positive outcomes and cultivate meaningful relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
{[EndQuote: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21]}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, Some kids can be nice, right? Others are not as nice. I remember a time when I was just a wee lad. I was playing basketball at the park closest to where I lived. I had just finished and was walking off the court. I remember that I left so that I wouldn’t be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/april2-kids.jpg?fit=503%2C893&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7254,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2022\/04\/30\/2022-april-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":9864,"position":0},"title":"2022 – April part 2","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"April 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"We have been going to this smaller Christian church (trying to go) and it hasn't been a great fit. Here is a photo from Easter Sunday accompanied by our Easter Bunny photo taken with the kids. Spring is a great time to be in the Northwest - check out the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/april23rando.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/april23rando.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/april23rando.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/april23rando.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/april23rando.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":492,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2006\/05\/03\/492\/","url_meta":{"origin":9864,"position":1},"title":"Hey my peoples.I'm at PepperdineI\u2026","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"May 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey my peoples.I'm at PepperdineI got my grades posted from school..Ended with less than a 3.0, less than a 2.9 but a 2.8 GPA.A - A - B - B - B - DYes.. a D in that class that I had a 34% in, I brought the grade up\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7215,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2022\/04\/15\/2022-april-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":9864,"position":2},"title":"2022 – April part 1","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"April 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The kids have been wanting to adopt a dog. So has the wife. She told me we could either have a dog or another baby. So we went out looking for dogs this weekend. There was one that everyone seemed to like. We didn't get him though - why? Well,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/april11a.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/april11a.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/april11a.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/april11a.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/april11a.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12652,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2026\/02\/17\/pdxwlf-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":9864,"position":3},"title":"Out of the Dark","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"February 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey there! Guess who is back again? We missed the Winter Lights on Friday night this week as the kids refused to do their homework and cleanup after themselves, so after making sure those things got done we went out on Saturday. One of the things was called \"Books are\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feb14-glow.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feb14-glow.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feb14-glow.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feb14-glow.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feb14-glow.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11532,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2025\/09\/22\/back-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":9864,"position":4},"title":"CVG to a PDX reunion","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"September 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, we were up before it was light outside. We took the hotel shuttle to the airport, and we were fortunate to arrive early. A few minutes after we arrived, the shuttle was full, and they had to turn some people away. When we arrived at the airport, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sept12-airport.jpg?fit=1176%2C883&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sept12-airport.jpg?fit=1176%2C883&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sept12-airport.jpg?fit=1176%2C883&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sept12-airport.jpg?fit=1176%2C883&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sept12-airport.jpg?fit=1176%2C883&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12254,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2025\/11\/30\/universal-travels\/","url_meta":{"origin":9864,"position":5},"title":"Universal Travels","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"November 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey there, Instead of spending the entire Thanksgiving Weekend at our house, we decided to take a trip to my parents' place. This would also give them a couple of days to take Luca to stay with them. All of the kids have been able to do so at some\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nov30-uni.jpg?fit=1168%2C876&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nov30-uni.jpg?fit=1168%2C876&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nov30-uni.jpg?fit=1168%2C876&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nov30-uni.jpg?fit=1168%2C876&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nov30-uni.jpg?fit=1168%2C876&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11125,"href":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9864\/revisions\/11125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}