my evening...

I babysat my neighbor tonight for the 2nd time. He's 7 years old and his parents are divorced- he lives with his mom, dad lives in Colorado. Well we were watching a movie and his dad called. They talked about what Luke did at school for like 15 min then the convo changed. Luke said something to his dad about him yelling at his mom on the phone and how he shouldnt do that. They went on in this conversation for like 40 min about his dad not respecting his mom bc he yells at her and calls her bad names (as Luke said "the B.I. word"). Luke told him over and over to "not say mean things to her. It hurts her and me. If you're going to say mean things then shut your mouth and dont say a word. If you call her, only say nice things becuase thats why you call to talk to someone. Promise you wont say any mean things anymore." It was so strange. For about 40 minutes i forgot that i was babysitting a 7 year old. He sounded like an adult talking to another adult. He was telling his father to be respectful and nice, never to say anythign mean or yell...things he probably even learned from his dad. It just broke my heart. I wanted to take away the phone and scream "JUST LISTEN TO YOUR KID!!" Towards the end of the convo he started breaking down so he went upstair but i could still hear him talking. He was getting so frusterated bc his father was apparently trying to explain why he yelled (bc his mom said mean things too) and justify it. But all Luke could say is "but you dont have to say mean things to her!" What a great son.. trying to help his parents and all his dad sees is him attacking him. My heart goes out to this family. I think its been 2 years since the divorce. Both parents are dating others. I saw tonight how hard it really is on this kid. He is the mediator for his parents and it shouldnt be like that. He didnt ask to be in the middle of it all. Please pray for Luke and his parents. Mom is Sandy.. dont know Dads name. Thanks.