There were two words uttered in my house that had the power to move mountains. Those words would either stop kids dead in their tracks or get them running faster than the speed of sound. Any kid hearing those two words knewthat whatever their smartass comeback might have been to one I another, it quickly died on their lips as soon as those were spoken.
“Mom Said.”
I don’t know about you, but those words trumped everything in my home. I don’tcare what the argument was over. I don’t care who thought they were in the right. It didn’t matter how old the child was. The utterance of Mom Said wouldend all discussion.
“Mom Said unload the dishwasher.” Dishes got unloaded.
“Mom Said walk the dog.” Dog got walked.
“Mom Said get your homework done.” Books got opened and pencils were quicklysharpened.
Power of those Words
Those words were so powerful that my kids even started using Mom Said as their own reinforcement tool. It usually started with one of them seeking me out somewhere in the house (where I was most likely trying to get a moment’s peace) to tell me that somebody wasn’t doing something that they were supposed to be doing. After sighing with exhaustion and muttering, “I’m too old for this,” I would slowly speak the magic words, “Tell them Mom Said to do it.”
And that was all it took.
That kid—some might say tattletale—was now granted absolute power and authority. I noticed that they suddenly stood a bittaller. Their shoulders werepushed back, and their chest waspushed out. A cocky smirk came over their face as they quickly pivoted and marched out of the room to the unsuspecting prey. I could hear the Mom Said command confidently rolling off their tongue and imagined the smug smile they now had plastered on their face. The magic words were spoken and that was final. Nobody questioned it. Nobody even bothered to come back to me and make sure that I really said it. No one would dare because no one wants to go up against Mom.
Unauthorized Use
Now, I will tell you, it has been rumored that Kristen, my oldest, used Mom Saidoccasionally, in a totally unauthorized mannerfor her own benefit, most often telling the other kids to do something she wanted them to do, especially if it meant that she could get out of doing work around the house, but right now that’s just hearsay. Honestly, if it got people in my house cleaning up, I don’t know that I’m going to get too upset about it. All I know is that it worked, and it got things accomplished. I wasn’t quite sure how long this Mom Said thing wouldlast, but I can tell you, that even though the kids are grown, it still gets used from time to time. Occasionally I’ll get a call from one of the kids looking to be granted additional power or needing backup.
So that got me thinking…
Wouldn’t it be great if Mom Said could be used in other circumstances? We could solve so many world problems.
“Mom Said you can’t build any more nuclear bombs.”
“Mom Said you two countries have to stop fighting.”
“Mom Said you’re not in charge.”
And just think about how much we could change things in the world of politics. Think about how many problems could get resolved if Mom spent more time around the lawmakers in Washington D.C.
“Mom Said balance that budget right now.”
“Mom Said stop whining and blaming everyone else for your problems.”
“Mom Said stop wasting money, it doesn’t grow on trees.”
Seems like Mom’s the one who can get the job done. Maybe we need to oust the children that are currently in political office and elect moms.
“Mom Said…Vote for more Moms.”