So Many Kids, So Little Time

"When you're growing up your mother says, 'Wear a hat or you'll catch cold.'  When you become an adult you discover you have the right not to wear a hat and see if you catch cold or not."

Yes, we were young once. So were our children.

Now they have grown up, and we have grown old.

(Summer 1978, Durham, NC)

With my keen sense of observation, I have noticed that there seem to be a whole bunch of kids in this family. When reading these blogs, I am struck by the effort made to document the lives of children and grandchildren. It's a noble cause, because they grow up too fast and leave too soon. A friend once told me "You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they're going". 

There are so many things we try to teach our children. Our hope is that they learn enough to be loving, self-reliant adults. Not as easy as it sounds though, is it? Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional. 

We all try to give our children some things we didn't have growing up. In our family, it seems we also try to give them what we did have growing up. 

If I could, I would shield my children from the hurts of life that have, and will, inevitably come to them. Certainly all of their trials will not have a happy ending. But we watch over them and encourage them as they experience both the joys and sorrows of life. And I will pray that from their experiences, they will recognize and accept the gifts that come their way.

"Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them" 

Oscar Wilde

YIKES!