A lovely moment which could have happened anywhere in the world.......

A little while ago I was walking home from school with my 6 year old, A, when we both shared a rather lovely moment.  A. was walking very slowly and not being very co-operative.  Not something that happens every day but not unusual for a tired and hungry little boy.  I was getting very frustrated and beginning to get a bit cross, so he said, 'I don't love you any more'.  So, I said, 'Well, I love you, now come on!'.

I don't know why, but at that moment I decided to elaborate. 'In fact, 'I said, 'I never stop loving you'. 
A. stopped where he was on the pavement, looked at me and said, 'Really?!'  I was surprised by his reaction; surely he knew that I loved him.  'Yes, ' I replied, 'I never stop loving you.  When you are very good I love you, when you are naughty I love you, whatever you do, wherever you are, I always love you.  It never stops'.  'Oh, 'he said, 'I never knew that,'  and he gave me a big smile and held my hand.  

'So, did you think that every time I get cross with you that I stop loving you?'  I ventured.  'Yes!' was his answer and it really did shock me.  If we had not had this conversation A would have gone through his life thinking that I turned my love for him on and off according to how he behaved and that just isn't the way it is.  All mothers and fathers will probably agree with me when I say that this feeling of love is so strong, so profound, so deep that it can never find an end.  It never stops.  It's just there - all the time.

I did, of course, ask the obvious question, 'So, when I get cross with you, do you stop loving me?'

And the answer was, 'Yes'.