I remember as a kid, playing ping pong by the hour. We probably spent as much time running after the ball than we did playing the game! I remember that familiar sound of the ball hitting the paddles and then bouncing off the table into the air.
Ping pong is now an Olympic sport, and their version of this game is nothing like what I remember. Players hold an aggressive stance and they hit the ball with great power and precision. The ball becomes a blur as it gets hit back and forth over the net with great speed and power. What used to be a leisurely pastime has become a physical workout, for heaven’s sake!
Whenever I think of ping pong, I can’t help but think of how the kids of divorce have told me they feel like a ping pong ball as their parents hand them off time after time. They realize that they no longer have a place to call home; they have mom’s house and dad’s house now. Their “stuff” is split between houses, they have two different rooms, two different schedules, two sets of rules and two sets of expectations. Yup. They certainly do feel like they are ping pong balls, being batted back and forth time after time. Where do they really belong? Where do they fit in?
This week, on Chained No More Talk Radio, we will have a returning guest who is an expert on this topic of kids of divorce and the life they live because of their parents’ decisions. Her name is Linda Ranson-Jacobs, and she was a single mom, is an author of “Divorce Care For Kids” and a popular national speaker. She fully understand this topic, “Kids of Divorce: Between Two Houses.” Tune in to www.toginet.com at 2-3pm ET on Tuesday, November 1. You will learn from her, be encouraged, and be given many practical tools to help parents and grandparents with kids of divorce and this subject of going back and forth between parents.
If we teach these hurting children nothing else, we need to teach them that they have a Heavenly Father who is always beside them, will not hurt them, yell at them, abandon them, hand them off, or betray themm and their true home is in His arms. They need to know they are valued and loved unconditionally and without measure, no matter how they feel on this earth.
Help these children to memorize a verse of hope….”For I know the plans I have for you, ” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11