{SIGH…}
I’ve been trying to ignore it, even while realizing that it was consuming every moment of my mental life.
The First Day of School.
And not just any first day of school–Speedracer’s FIRST first day of school. (Meaning in all likelihood, our last first first day of school.)
Thankfully we don’t have to put them on a bus. They’re a little bummed about that, actually. They’ve lived a sheltered and charmed life and think that school buses are just for field trips surrounded by your best friends. Having attended public school my whole student “career” I know that’s not the case at all. So it’s a good thing I don’t have to load them on a school bus every morning because I think my heart would just give out right there in our driveway.
I think it’s laughable that people talk about over-sheltering and over-protecting our children with the idea of homeschooling or not allowing them to play video games or keeping them in private school just as long as we possibly can–and then justify elementary school children having cell phones “in case of emergencies.” What “emergencies” are you exposing your 8 yr old to without adult supervision that you think they can handle by having a cell phone?
People talk about not using uniforms to protecting children’s right to “express themselves” –teaching them that who they are is somehow related to what they wear. People talk about the need for socialization–as if being exposed only to your own equally immature peers for 6-10 hours a day will teach you mature socialization skills.
I’m for sheltering our children–they are children! I’m for protecting our children–they are children! I’m for giving our children mature role models and examples rather than having them look blindly for leadership in their peers. I’m for teaching them life skills that start with personal responsibility, not technology. I’m for teaching them that personal safety starts with making good decisions, not dialing a cell phone. I’m for guiding and directing them into growing up, not just looking like grown ups.
I’m for raising heroes not heartbreakers. Leaders not followers. Givers not takers. Workers not whiners.
How about you?
These are not the tears of a sad heart streaming down my face today. These are the tears of eyes blinded by the brilliance of the light my children shine out into the world.
“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” (Philippians 2:15)
