Allowing our children to "find their own voice" was (is) challenging even to the best of parents. Bringham Young's advice to "teach correct principles and they will govern themselves" however simplistic it sounds, is not always easy to do. Don't we just want to nudge, push, correct, and insist so that our children will always find the "right" voice? When my children were all still at home and "The Simpson's" was a highlight on TV, their mother was adamant that they not watch it. I felt it was a program in which children did not respect their parents, talked back to them, made fun of them and were vulgar. Some how this was all supposed to be funny. Down the road, did they always obey me? No, although I don't think they ate a steady diet of Bart, some of them did snack on it. Yesterday, while setting the table for dinner, I grabbed a hot pad out of the drawer to slap on the table prior to placing a hot dish on it. I started to grin, then smile, then laugh. One of my sons had found "their voice" while in middle school CTE class and machine embroidered good old Bart on the hot pad - just for their mom! They did all turn out to be very wonderful children - each with a voice of his/her own!
No comments:
Post a Comment