The gradually dropping temperatures and changing of foliage from an overwhelming green to variations of yellow, red, and brown means that Autumn is once again upon us. With this time of year, at least here in New England, comes the almost instinctive drive to get things buttoned up and prepared for the coming ice, snow and bitter cold of Winter. Like the ant from the fable we all know, we New Englanders spend the remaining months of the waning year busy doing what we can to prepare.
With a list of stuff to do, I spent this past beautiful three-day weekend zooming from one end of our property to the next getting all the things done that needed to be done. From mowing the lawn, to closing the pool, to acquiring two more truckloads of firewood, each day was spent full until fatigue set in and my legs and back would buckle. I did however make sure that I took time for the elephant.
Regardless of what has to be done around the yard, regardless of what has to be done in the house, regardless of what has to be done anywhere, I never lose sight in making my children a priority. In between stacking firewood, painting walls, and cleaning, my children took advantage of daddy’s playful nature. Attacked and ultimately tackled after a bit of harmless ’sparring’ by both the 2 year-old and 5 year-old working as a team, daddy found himself a beast of burden of another kind. Coerced into mimicking the behavior of a hulking elephant, I slowly lumbering about our two acres with sixty pounds of additional weight that struggled to stay aloft the skinniest (and only) “elephant” they’d ever ridden. The giggles and joy that Sophia, Duncan and I shared swiftly erased any thoughts of having more important things to do, as well as any physical pain that I was already feeling due to fatigue.
These relatively brief moments in life remind me how important our children are to us all. Whether or not you are a parent yourself, it is important to recognize how vital it is that our children get the attention they desire and deserve. By taking time playing with them outside or taking the time to answer the multitude of questions they ask which rely on our wisdom, we the adults of this world have to remember that it is their world we are taking care of now, and their world that we will leave behind. This is why it is so important that we not only teach them what is right and wrong in this world today, but we also must do our very best to not leave a mess behind us when we are gone. Instead of planting your child in front of the DVD, TV or Playstation while you suffer through your day to day, find something you can involve them in that will encourage their imagination. By reading a book, building something, or even something as simple as allowing them to help us cook, we are encouraging their imagination and helping them to gain an ability to think for themselves and grow up to be capable of handling the many challenges in life. As I stated in a prior post, these small lumps of clay are our only hope to create the world we’d all like to live in. The most important thing we can do is see to it that they are molded appropriately. As the “old” song (sorry Mom and Dad!) goes, “Teach, your children well”…
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