My Kids Make Me Think

As I start typing this, I'm not really sure exactly what I'm going to end up saying (scary, I know)...but I know I have something to say.

It's funny how little trips with your kids to batting practice and the grocery store can put so much into perspective and kind of get you going.

What did I learn on this trip? Well, I learned kids...at least my kids...have minds of their own. They use their own brains, not someone else's, to make their own decisions. Unfortunately, all too often, I watch adults make decisions with other people's brains. Disappointing, but not all too shocking.

Do things, or don't do things, based on your own thought process people! Just because someone else is doing it/joining it/buying it/typing it/chosing it/wearing it/eating it/smoking it...whatever...doesn't mean you should. My kids know this. Now some are saying, "I don't do that." If not, good for you. If you are doing it, admit it and stop it. You are much more intelligent than that and don't think for a second you don't have the gray matter it takes to make your own decisions. You do what you know is right. If you aren't sure what is right, think about it. It shouldn't take long to come to you. It really isn't that difficult.

Think. Decide. Act. Commit.

The "commit" part is usually the part where people have the most trouble. Why? I guess because that means you actually have to stick to your guns and not flip-flop in your decision-making process. Too many people want that "out". That's why on game shows they ask, "Is that your final answer?". Shelby would be great at this show. "ALL of my answers are my 'final answer' !" she'd declare. That's my girl.

Where is this coming from? Believe it or not...my daughter telling me she had no desire to eat the Sushi I was going to have for dinner. She didn't say it in a whiney voice. She said it in a matter-of-fact, I-don't-want-that, I-know-what-I'm-saying and no-one-will-change-my-mind voice. Good grief...wasn't going to ask her if she wanted some anyway. But...I appreciated the commitment she had made to her decision. Bravo Belle.

My kiddos, and lots of kids for that matter, even have moral compasses at their ages. They know 'right' from 'wrong'. They know what situations will get them in trouble, have bad consequences, cause them or someone else pain, so many things. It's true what that book says, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." For those of you who haven't had the pleasure...here's an excerpt:

>Share everything.
>Play fair.
>Don't hit people.
>Put things back where you found them.
>Clean up your own mess.
>Don't take things that aren't yours.
>Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
>Wash your hands before you eat.
>Flush.
>Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
>Live a balanced life - learn some and think someand draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
>Take a nap every afternoon.
>When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
>Be aware of wonder.
>Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
>Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
>And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggestword of all - LOOK.
>Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
>Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government oryour world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down withour blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put thing back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
>And it is still true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
© Robert Fulghum, 1990.


Another thing I learned today in The World According to Ben when he exclaimed, "Why did God make this impossible?!": You can't lick your elbow.

You're trying it, aren't you? I thought so... . Good luck.