TOD 12.11.07

I chose to have an uncomfortable conversation on Sunday when I went to drop our toddler off at the nursery. When I arrived, there was only one teenager whom I barely know watching just one other child besides my own. I stayed for a few minutes and then decided to take him back to the service with me, which turned out fine. But because I didn’t want to give the girl the wrong impression, I felt I should explain why I wasn’t leaving him.

I told her that it was nothing particularly against her, but that we prefer to leave our children only with other parents we know well. Since I didn’t even know her name, surely I didn’t know her well enough to leave my son in her care. She took no offense and understood my decision. I was practicing a principle I advocate: tell people the truth, especially when you’d rather not. This truth was fairly easy to say, but it surely would have been easier to say nothing. Easier, but not more respectful.

The truth may make me look bad or it may make someone else feel bad, but there must be very significant reasons for me to not pay others the debt I owe them of honesty…particularly other Christians.