Is it just me, or do you ever feel like the window in which we have to teach our children how to be healthy, happy ctizens is closing before we have even begun? I have so many good ideas about what to teach my children, what to expose them to, and what to shelter them from, but then the f!*@ing dishes and dinner get in the way. Every day! When is that crochet lesson supposed to happen when there is always food to be prepared?
I might have to let go of a few of my more ambitious goals for the kids, but there are some I simply must work into the days. And soon, as my oldest is now seven and will one day wake up to realize that mom isn’t really as cool/smart/pretty as she thinks I am now. The window is closing…
My personal new years resolutions (coffee, wine, exercise, blah, blah) will have to wait for my children’s resolutions to be, well… resolved. Here’s my short list:
Work is good and natural, god@#$%it! If we lived on Little House on the Prairie (which we certainly do NOT!), work would be life, not just a chore. I don’t know about you, but my children need to start working more and playing less. I really need to get to work on this one now, as my daughter is already balking about how much “work” she has to do. “Go live on a farm in Botswana!” I yell with wild eyes. “Then you’ll know what work is!” She rolls her eyes and walks away from her single chore of clearing off the dinner table. Alas.
Make a Difference I have talked about this before. God, can I talk. But this is a new year, and it’s time.
Learn how to survive, should the economic or national security shit hit the fan. Maybe start learning about edible plants (my two-year old will enjoy this one), or shoe making…
Helping others I have talked about this one too. Maybe we can interweave resolutions– shoe making for people with no shoes…
We are global citizens. We don’t have the money to travel outside of New England right now, but for this year, we can start teaching the children about the world outside of New England by setting up a pen pal for our seven year old. Then, if and when we are able to travel again, we can take the next step, and visit her friend…as long as she is not in a war-torn country. In which case, maybe she can visit us.
That’s a lot for 2009. We might have to resort for frozen pizzas and sticky floors to get this done. But if not now, then when?
