Golden
I feel useless as a rock
Useless as a rock
Useless
The phrase
Reverberates
Inside my head
Sinks into my conscience
Settling into the back
Of my throat
Admittedly
We have been
Scolding him more often
Since school let out
Trying to balance
His strong personality
With the needs
Of the family
Our pack
Still
Such sentiment
Cannot go unresolved
Not even for a second
I tell him
If you are a rock
Then you
Are gold to me
Golden
Golden
©2014 Jill Baker
Snapshots 
My son has a way with words, having used colorful language since he was a preschooler to describe his feelings. “It feels like there’s a tsunami in my stomach” was how he described a recent bout of the stomach flu. I don’t know where the rock analogy came from, but he certainly hit the nail on the head. Nobody likes to be told what to do and sometimes trying to hold a child accountable for their behavior turns into a big power struggle. I remember well being a child, wanting to do what I wanted to do and don’t tell me different (well, I’m still stubborn like that.) Still, my job as his parent is to guide him through life, even when the going gets tough, while also remembering what it is like to be a child after the drama dies down. My children are, after all, golden to me.