So how does a person know their kids are going to learn everything they need to know to get on in the world as an intelligent being and have skills to earn enough of a paycheck to survive? And how can they be happy and healthy as well?
Since we don't know the future, we can be as positive as possible and do our best to help our children live meaningful lives. It comes down to trust and acceptance. Trust them that they know what makes them happy and trust that they will learn whatever they are interested in learning. Trust that this will happen over time in an individual way. Trust your child's way. Trust that their learning and happiness will allow them to find employment that makes them comfortable. ALLOW them to be their own people...they might feel happy and give importance to things different than you. Be okay with that. Support them. Support their choices. Help them do the things THEY want to do.
You know your kids, do fun things with them. Do interesting things with them. Spend happy, playful time with them. Cook and play with them. Play tag, bake cookies, play-doh, tell jokes, read stories, play games, anything that you all enjoy doing together. Garden, build, go out to the store, go to museums. Live life with your child. Enjoy your child. See your child in a positive, good light. Love being with your child. Be grateful you even have your child!! Time goes way fast...enjoy the moment you are in. If you screw it up, sincerely apologize and try to make the next moment better. Remember that life is uncertain. REALLY appreciate what you have..read WHO you have in your life. Appreciate that you are able to be with your child and live with and know them for as long as a time you have. That might help put priorities and worries in perspective. As John Kream says, "We're all gonna die." Simply respecting, loving, caring, playing, discovering ...living...with our beloved children is what its all about and what matters. All the artificial fluff that society makes up does not matter. We can take our culture and society into account when we make choices, but remember that everything is a choice and that we do not need to blindly follow our culture. Think for yourself and choose what seems right to you.
Adding this on 6/17/2010 - Note: Parents have a responsibility to help create the best environments as possible for their children and become active partners in helping their kids explore the world and their many areas of interest. Some things we can do are to get into a habit of scanning the newspapers and searching for books and programs and everything and anything that will bring learning and enjoyment to our children. We are active facilitators and partners in their learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment