Authority

"Mothers owe a thinking love to their children." --Charlotte Mason

"Authority is alert; she knows all that is going on and is aware of tendencies. She fulfils the apostolic precept––'He that ruleth (let him do it), with diligence.' But she is strong enough to fulfil that other precept also, 'He that showeth mercy (let him do it), with cheerfulness'; timely clemency, timely yielding, is a great secret of strong government. It sometimes happens that children, and not their parents, have right on their side: a claim may be made or an injunction resisted, and the children are in opposition to parent or teacher. It is well for the latter to get the habit of swiftly and imperceptibly reviewing the situation; possibly, the children may be in the right, and the parent may gather up his wits in time to yield the point graciously and send the little rebels away in a glow of love and loyalty. Nobody understood this better than Queen Elizabeth, who contrived to make a curious division of her personality and be, at the same time, a model ruler and, as a woman, full of the weaknesses of her sex. It has been well said that she knew when to yield and how to yield. Her adroitness in getting over many a dangerous crisis has been much praised by historians; but, possibly, this saving grace was not adroitness so much as the tact born of qualities proper to all who are set in authority––the meekness of one who has been given an appointed work, the readiness to take counsel with herself and with others, the perception that she herself was not the be-all and the end-all of her functions as a queen, but that she existed for her people, and the quick and tender open-minded sympathy which enabled her to see their side of every question as well as her own––indeed, in preference to her own. These are the qualities proper to every ruler of a household, a school, or a kingdom. With these, parents will be able to order and control a fiery young brood full of energy and vitality, as Elizabeth was, to manage the kingdom when the minds of men were in a ferment of new thought, and life was intoxicating in the delightfulness of the possibilities it offered. " (CM Series Vol. 3 p. 17-18)

Ouch. No comment. Please, Lord, help me not be autocratic, but an authority under Your authority. Help me, in meekness, to think and notice and imperceptibly evaluate things. Help me to stay on my toes and be gentle and cheerful as well as diligent. Amen.

I have thought of a new title for myself. It is Family Support Specialist. Mr. Honey said I should be called the Family Support Manager, as that sounds more professional. Maybe. I am training up future Family Support Specialists. Not that I have any problem with the titles of Homemaker, Housewife or Mother. But in this day and age when professional sounding titles are all the thing, it helps me understand better one of the functions of my office.