As adults, we like to think that we know more than the kids in our lives. When one becomes a parent, one quickly learns that God sometimes uses those precious gifts to teach us a thing or two!

My most recent "lesson-from-the-younger-set" came from two young ladies I've never met. My baby sister lives in San Antonio, Texas, and babysits two young girls each day while her oldest, my nephew, is at school. In other words, my sister is home each school day with three VERY GIRLY preschool/toddler aged girls! Being a "girly-girl" herself, my sister loves it. One of her young charges decided early on that all the girls were princesses and my sister was the queen - smart girl!

Got a phone call from my sister recently and she started with, "I knew you'd appreciate this." I settled in for a good story because that statement from my baby sister always means I'm about to giggle at the least or maybe get in a good belly laugh! She began - The kids were playing outside and the girls were playing princesses - of course! My nephew decided that he was only one prince and wasn't all that interested in dancing with any princesses so he was going to slay the dragon! The oldest of the young ladies got very perturbed with all of his "hi-ya"ing. She popped her hip out like we women can do, put her little fist on her waist, and told my nephew, "There's no fighting in princesses." He gave her a look and went back to his slaying. She told him again, "There's no fighting in princesses!" By this time I've got a visual of a little beauty in dress up clothes, looking ticked, scolding my nephew and I'm laughing hard!

The queen" - aka my baby sister - went on to tell me that she stepped in and explained that the prince needed to slay the dragon so it was safe to have the ball. This young lady was rather put out with his timing and still didn't think he needed to be fighting just then. In the midst of my laughter, I was struck with this thought - how often does my "Prince" go out to "slay the dragon" for me, only to get harped on by me because his timing wasn't ideal? We want our husband's to earn an income, keep the car running, take care of the mowing and shoveling, kill the bugs, unstop the toilets, take out the trash . . . whatever. Let's be honest, we all have jobs that we expect our Prince to handle for us!

What does our Prince Charming find when he comes home? His dragon may be long hours because the boss demands them. Or maybe it's inconvenient hours. (This would be the challenge in our home where hubby - a pastor - is never really "off the clock".) Maybe he has a nasty commute or there were computer problems and he wasn't able to get everything done that day. Whatever his "dragon", he went out there to contend with it for his "lady fair". He wants to know that we believe he can "slay" and "conquer" whatever is in front of him. Then he comes home. Does he find a loving "Princess" - or "Queen" if you prefer - who is grateful for the day he just put in? Or does he find someone looking and acting more like an ogre?!

Before any of the more "feminist" readers cry foul, let me assure you of a couple of things. I work outside the home and have crazy days as well. But my husband finds his sense of personal significance in doing well in his career, whereas it's just a job to me! When I attack him for that effort, I'm basically telling him that he needed to "slay the dragon" in a way that was more convenient for me.

I wish I could say that this is a lesson I learned years ago and I never blow it. Sadly, it's one I'm still learning. But I have committed - again - to making sure that hubby comes to a loving "lady fair" when he has slain each day's dragon!