http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/your-money/childrens-activities-no-guarantee-of-later-success.html
I am no Tiger Mom. My kids are all older elementary school age and I have never signed them up for activities. The oldest did piano lessons for a couple years until my friend stopped teaching due to family needs. That's right, no soccer, no dance class, no karate. Nothing. No weekend games to get in the schedule. No recitals to sit through. And now with this article, I feel even better about myself. Isn't it great to find something which justifies your world view?
My kids are kids. They play, they bicker, they spend way too much time on electronics. They scooter and play with kids in the neighborhood. My theory is that when they get to middle school they can sign up for school sports and extracurriculars. Until then I'm not going out of my way to sign them up for stuff. When they are older they can complain to friends about what a bad Mom I am. For now I want my schedule to be free to do what we want when, not juggling to fit in our needs around some activity they will declare they hate after I spent a couple hundred dollars.
Hey kid, go outside and play!
A place to share what I know and what I think I know.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Eternal Salvation is the Best Revenge
I am so proud of my YCLs from girls camp!
It all started when my YCLs (I was YCL leader this year) did a morning cheer that made fun of the 4th years. OK, I was not proud of that and I stopped them all on their way to breakfast to tell them there was one way out of this to avoid war with the 4th years - an obsequious apology. (No, I didn't use the word obsequious with them.) At the first opportunity they needed to do a cheer or sing a song expressing how wonderful the 4th years are. Nothing makes your enemy look worse to others than being nice to them. So they sang a "We love you song" to the 4th years and I thought we were done.
Until the next night some candy was taken from the YCL cabin. And the next day when the cabin was TP'd and more candy taken. (Can I mention that this kind of stuff is strictly forbidden at our girls camp?) I was worried about what the response would be from my girls. Would they escalate the war? Certainly some of them were upset.
At evening flag their response was clear - they did a peppy cheer about themselves and then sang a verse of "I'm trying to be like Jesus." I got tearful looking at these 18 girls from all over the stake and thinking how much I love them and how proud I was of their behavior. In that moment they really turned the other cheek and loved their enemy.
Choosing the higher path and enjoying the blessings of eternal salvation is the best revenge. Even better, though, is when those despitefully use you choose the higher path and get to enjoy eternal salvation with you.
It all started when my YCLs (I was YCL leader this year) did a morning cheer that made fun of the 4th years. OK, I was not proud of that and I stopped them all on their way to breakfast to tell them there was one way out of this to avoid war with the 4th years - an obsequious apology. (No, I didn't use the word obsequious with them.) At the first opportunity they needed to do a cheer or sing a song expressing how wonderful the 4th years are. Nothing makes your enemy look worse to others than being nice to them. So they sang a "We love you song" to the 4th years and I thought we were done.
Until the next night some candy was taken from the YCL cabin. And the next day when the cabin was TP'd and more candy taken. (Can I mention that this kind of stuff is strictly forbidden at our girls camp?) I was worried about what the response would be from my girls. Would they escalate the war? Certainly some of them were upset.
At evening flag their response was clear - they did a peppy cheer about themselves and then sang a verse of "I'm trying to be like Jesus." I got tearful looking at these 18 girls from all over the stake and thinking how much I love them and how proud I was of their behavior. In that moment they really turned the other cheek and loved their enemy.Choosing the higher path and enjoying the blessings of eternal salvation is the best revenge. Even better, though, is when those despitefully use you choose the higher path and get to enjoy eternal salvation with you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)