6-26-07 From Kevin:
We currently live out on the plains high up in the Colorado Mountains. Pikes Peak fills up our view on one side, the Collegiate Mountains on the other side. Forests are on the other two sides. We can see a million miles of sky and weather patterns 100 miles away. In the Spring we get an average of 3 double rainbows per week. We don't have a thing to obstruct the view, not even a single tree.
Which is one big reason why we are moving. High mountains and plains equal wind. Tons of it. I should be harvesting it to supply enough energy to run the entire city of Colorado Springs down the pass. Kids don't like high velocity winds and tend to stay indoors, which I can't stand. God made the outdoors, not carpet.
So we are building a house on dream property in the middle of a vast national forest. Months ago we started working on our land, clearing it out. Our two little boys weren't that thrilled. No comfortable walls and smooth floors. Instead there were hard sticks, uneven ground (hard for Canyon who was just starting to walk), varying temperatures, high grass, etc... So they fussed a good deal and it was comforting to come home and plop them on the nice carpet of our home.
Fast forward a few months to this past weekend. We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday from dusk till dawn at our 'Homestead.' Granted, we have a little plot on the property with a camper, an RV, chairs and tables, mowed yard and toys. But these two little boys just had a blast. They wandered through the trees, rode ATVs with their bigger siblings, played with roads for their cars made out of 2x4s laying around. And mostly, plowed their little cars and grubby hands through the soft topsoil. They got monstrously filthy and smiled like...well...pigs in mud. Which basically, they were.
It got me to thinking about how kids adapt, and how that adaptation shapes their lives. And I thought of what else they adapt to. They adapt to my impatience, and begin to own pieces of it. They adapt to my teasing, and pass it on to their siblings. They adapt to my sarcasm and showcase witty grasps of it at surprisingly young ages. And of course we've all seen examples of kids who adapt to Dad beating the crap out of Mom. Or beating them! They adapt to being raised by 'caregivers' instead of parents they long for. They adapt to bad food that makes them fat and sick. They adapt to TV and viewing life instead of actually living it. They adapt to a ravenous quest for more stuff till they expect more loot at one Christmas than their grandparents received in their entire childhood...and take this pursuit on to be their primary focus for life.
What am I making my kids adapt to...?
Pretty daunting to digest for me. The only way I can get them to adapt and adhere to pure qualities of value...is to exemplify them. Bollocks! That's hard! I need to show them peace beyond understanding, turning the other cheek (not the one in their britches), giving sacrificially, humbleness, servitude...
They won't learn it anywhere else. I either raise them to be givers or takers.
Lots to ponder as I view these little, fantastic beings racing around my house...
Have you viewed precious commodities of character in your children? Share them with me, and with the other readers here. And how did they come to model these things? Through what example?
