The Space Between the Start and the Stop...

The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind

and another

his mother called him "Wild Thing!"
and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!"
so he was sent to bed without eating anything

That very night in Max's room a forest grew

and grew-

and grew until his ceiling hung with vines
and the walls became the world all around

and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max
and he sailed off through night and day

and in and out of weeks
and almost over a year
to where the wild things are.

And when he came to the place where the wild things are
they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth

and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws

till Max said "BE STILL!"
and tamed them with the magic trick

of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once
and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all

and made him king of all wild things.

"And now", cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!"

"Now stop!" Max said and sent the wild things off to bed
without their supper. And Max the king of all wild things was lonely
and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.

Then all around from far away across the world
he smelled good things to eat
so he gave up being king of where the wild things are.

But the wild things cried, "Oh please don't go-
we'll eat you up-we love you so!"
And Max said, "No!"

The wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth
and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws
but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye

and sailed back over a year
and in and out of weeks
and through a day

and into the night of his very own room
where he found his supper waiting for him

and it was still hot.
(Where the Wild Things Are: Maurice Sendak)

This poem is of the most precious nature. On the surface and childish understanding of this story, Max realized where his home was. But on a more thought provoking level, how and why did he realize this? Do you realize that between the wild rumpus starting and stopping there is one space? Everything was going great for Max until the rumpus started, then he yelled stop! Why? What changed? That space doesn't tell us anything about the complications of royalty, the realization, the desire in the little boys mind and heart. Maybe, though, it is what is not there that reveals to us exactly what that void means.
Here's my theory.
In this child's mind, he wanted to be his own authority because he didn't like being told what to do. The mother of this monster-clad child, knew that it was not good for him to make decisions and rule his own soul because he didn't know better, he was still a child. The mother wisely and lovingly punished this child by sending him to bed without any supper. As his imagination grew, he went to a far off land where he was the king of all the little monsters and himself. He was the authority and everyone worshiped him. He didn't have to obey anyone. His first decision as king? Make a ruckus.
I know I've just explained about the little boy Max, but travel with me for a moment to a different idea: that this is not a children's book. It is actually an insightful book to parents about when their children grow up into... well... teenagers. Think about the separation that teenagers experience when coming to their own and learning to distance themselves from their parents. Sendak describes this disassociation as "over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day". That's a lot of distance. That's a long way to travel away from that authority we think we hate.
The truth is we need a wise ruler to guide our steps. That's why the wild things couldn't stand to be left, because Max was the only authority they knew. But Max couldn't do it, he didn't know how to be a wise ruler. All he could do was make noise and dance, and be wild. Something happened during that space that made him realize that he needed someone to help and guide him and be the loving authority in his life because he was too foolish to do it by himself.

Sendak also makes us think of the three types of parents, there are those parents who will not allow their child to distance themselves from the "ever-wise" authority, thinking that the foolish teenager will make terrible decisions and destroy themselves. The teenagers are so suffocated that freedom is what they think they've always wanted and once gone, they'll never turn back... even when "freedom" becomes less than ideal. Then, there are the parents who set no boundaries or expectations for their children, they let them go on the wild rumpuses of their lives so that they don't realize their folly till it is much too late. The hurt is cemented, the choices uncorrectable, and the mind too far from home that it will never fit again.
The third is the mean between the two extremes. These parents set boundaries complete with discipline but most of all love. The mother lovingly stands by as the hormonal teenager sails over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day away from them to experience for themselves what the parents have always known and made clear to be true all along. The mother lovingly beckons but never demands... never fails to bake cookies for her beloved and is always ready for a conversation, a hug, a tear, a cup of tea, a story, a love letter.
What happened between the start and the stop of the rumpus was that the boy realized that he did not know how to rule himself or the wild things that essentially lived in his mind... these can be compared to the roaring opinions, ideas, feelings, emotions, impulses, attractions, and every other kind of drama and ruckus that goes on in the life of a teenager. He needed his moment as he was growing in to his own to see for himself the truth. But the parents loved him enough to not let him go too far away so that he wouldn't not come back to home and his own discovery drew him back to the lavished love that was offered freely and unconditionally.

The real authority and true wise ruler of our lives ought to be God, but God has placed our parents in our lives to help us enter in to that conversation with our heavenly father... to help us listen and hear his voice speaking to us. It's the time when our faith is becoming our own, and not just an extension of our parents belief. God is using them as symbols and tangible representations of his love for us. We must listen, and respect, obey, even when we do go on adventures to discover the truth for ourselves... but never too far from home that we forget what it smells like or what true love, grace, and good food is.

I love you mom and dad.