Kenny Rogers' Secret Message to Mothers

For some reason I’ve had the chorus to a Kenny Rogers' song going through my head today, “know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, know when to run,” and as I listened to this on replay in my head over and over I got to thinking. Doesn’t every mom need to know things like that? It’s like a required listening song for moms!

I mean, for example, you have to know when to hold your child, (there are definitely times when they don’t want to be held. Like when they’re about thirteen and you’re anywhere near their friends.) You have to know when to fold (laundry, for instance, and when to make the kids do it so they learn responsibility and all.) You can also fold when it comes to bending the rules (like curfew) a bit for special occasions because then you seem like an understanding parent, that sort of thing. You have to know when to walk away (from looking at rooms that aren’t clean, from arguments, from crankiness) and know when to run (that is self-explanatory. Every mom out there would know that one!)

It’s like Kenny had a little secret message of answers moms should know that I didn’t know he knew. (Sort of like when you used to play the record backwards for a secret message. Of course, if you don’t know what a record is, that won’t make sense. And yes, I’m old enough to remember stuff like that.)

But even with all the things I’m supposed to know as a mom, situations always come up where I don’t have the answers. Maybe it’s because I haven’t listened to Kenny Rogers’ songs for most of my life and he’s had all the answers all along.

So, Kenny, if you’re reading this, I’m going to go to iTunes today and download some of your songs. For the answers and insights you’ve obviously already provided with your music, this mom thanks you.