By “Papa” Maury Clark
June 27, 2013 (SSNA) — Child development experts may have more technically accurate descriptions for the period that we parents call “THE TERRIBLE TWO’S”. But only parents know what that really means.
Your sweet, beautiful baby is now walking, and pulling everything that can be reached, and broken, onto your clean floor. When you remember the joyful days of holding your son or daughter in your arms, with the baby smiling and looking up at you admiringly, you have to wonder- “Whose kid is this?” as he screams to be put down. The question that hides in the back of your mind is- “Did somebody switch babies when I wasn’t looking”?
Age two is when your wonderful child begins to talk. But why is it that the only word in his vocabulary is “NO”!, and always screamed loudly enough to peel paint off of your neighbors wall?
And if you have your wonderful child in a group of other children, the only word that he can scream besides “NO” is “MINE!” Or if you prepared his favorite meal, he throws it on the floor because it was on the wrong plate.
So at this point, parents start to wonder “Did I really work this hard to have a kid like this?” Well the answer is “yes”, and if you live through it, your baby grows up and is somebody of whom you are proud, and you can say “I helped make that”
So——
Happy second birthday SOUTH SUDAN! You guys helped make that, and like parents, you will be very proud. If you survive it.
The author is a former advisor to the government of South Sudan, retired investment banker/broker, as well as a Called and Commissioned Deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Northwest Washington Synod. He served under Bishops Appointment as pastor of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Maple Valley, Washington in 1990 and 1991, and also served four years on the Synod Council and he has been deeply involved with the people of South Sudan since 1996.