She was speaking about her children (13, 10 and 7), and how one of her parenting philosophies is that busy kids are kids that don't have time to get into mischief. She keeps her kids busy with sports, ballet and horse-riding - every afternoon and it usually spills over into weekends. She had just been paid a compliment by her sister-in-law (a first!) as she too has a 13 year old, who is into *everything* already. My friends 13 year old is horse mad, not boy crazy at all.
Now whilst the pace of her life leaves me gasping and wondering if there is any downtime, I started wondering if there is merit to her philosophy. For sure, bored kids in a classroom means unruly behavior, so is it the same in parenting? Just got me thinking - is the key to well-balanced kids helping them to find a passion that they can throw themselves at that which keeps them from looking in places where there is only the illusion of fulfillemt? Food for thought huh?
And then I stumbled upon this post over at Generation Cedar, by Kelly Crawford:
I heard the parents of an 8-year-old girl defending the question of “the appropriateness” of a top pop song. The mother answered, “Well, I mean, unless you shelter your children from all music and T.V. you can’t keep them from singing to and dancing to (said inappropriate song).”
The implication? Parents are helpless to exercise their wisdom and authority over the things they deem inappropriate or harmful for their children. This is a frightening implication for any parent, but especially disturbing as a Christian parent commanded to guide and direct his children “in the way he should go”.
Why would a parent feel he can’t (or shouldn’t?) protect his 8-year-old from lyrics he deems harmful (music is a powerful influence according to studies)?
You can read further here...I'm having a revelation about how deliberate our job is as mothers. How noble it is. We...with our husbands, are called to equip our children to cope, to live WELL in this life. We are responsible for their life skills. Folks, it's up to us. Best we do it hand in hand with God because I don't know about you, but my goodness this is a much bigger job than I bargained for!
ps I loved Kelly's post on large families here!
Yup, Russ comes from a family who believes in *busy-ness* as an antidote for *mischief*. I come from the opposite. Neither he nor I got up to mischief so am not sure where the balance lies. I think each child is unique and its up to us as parent to decipher what is best for said child. That being said I am purposefully helping my children seek out a passion; not as an antidote to mischief but as a gift ito of enjoying all there is to this life!
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