After ignoring the boys this morning due to some blogging technical difficulties, I decided it was time for me to step up and redeem myself as an "involved" parent. I discovered this was necessary after my 7 year old decided it would be funny to take my 3 year old's training wheels OFF his bike...yes, the 3 year old CAN ride his bike without them, but chooses not too, so he was very upset.
We loaded up a picnic blanket, went through a drive thru (don't judge me, our groceries were very low until about 30 mins. ago!) and made our short trek to the nearby park for a picnic lunch. After we ate, I equipped them each with a bag, and we went on a nature walk which turned into a very interesting one hour discussion of all sorts of topics which didn't allow me time to relax my brain for sure!
It started out simple and cute when my three year old saw a "basket" in the water near some reeds and was determined that there was a baby in it...Caleb quickly informed him that Moses was in Egypt and that's far away. We had a lot of complaining about the heat and being thirsty, and then the hard questions came up.
Like, "Can a boy be a girl?" and "Where do baby's come from?" and "Why do boys have to respect girls?" and "How do you choose a girlfriend when you are old enough to date?" ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? They are almost 8, 5 1/2, and 3 1/2!!! (at least the 3 year old really didn't participate in this part of the session).
So, we went on some sort of nature walk, not really what I was expecting! But it really did remind me of how much equipping is expected of me, and I can't drop the ball and push them away too much...they have lots of stuff going through their curious heads, and if I am not open and available to them, who knows where they will go to find the answers. This is from a mom still raising preschoolers- kudos to all the moms and dads out there in the thick of the teen years! I am shaking in my flipflops thinking about what lies ahead!
HA! You know what is weird? My oldest informed me yesterday in the car, that he wanted another baby brother, and THEN he asked how babies were made. Oy! Luckily, it was right when I pulled up to drop him off for basketball camp, and I told him to go in and ask his dad...he never did. Whew! I know it will come up again though. I am NOT prepared for all of this either!
ReplyDeleteHey there! Yeah, when I start a post I always say that I am going into the trenches. There are always technical difficulties. About the nature walk and serious questions, yikes! Even one of those questions is tough. But you got a few tough ones. When Little Chick and I go to the beach she always asks me why the people are almost naked. I think to myself the same thing. Most of them are teens and it flips me out about the teen years. Not only are they almost naked, but they are smoking and kissing. Yikes! I hope those years will be smooth ones for us all! :)
ReplyDeleteMama Hen