Before I had children, I truly thought my future kids would be averages of the characteristics of Will and me. The two of us have many similarities, so I thought I knew what our children would be like. But I was wrong.
Our kids are orthogonal. They are their own people. They are artists. Lovers of downtime. Apathetic about sports. Debunkers of gender stereotypes. Independent thinkers. Unconcerned with what others think.
I saw an article today on a father who had mocked his son for taking part in a Lego tournament. The Internet had rightly torn this man apart. But one line in his many twitter posts read, "We're all thinking, 'Other kids play football....'" And this is painful to admit, but it is hard sometimes not to have these intrusive thoughts bubble up. Other kids play sports at recess. Other kids join school activities. Other kids are on a safer, more established path.
Part of these worries arise from a desire for safety, security. If our children are like us - their path seems clearer. If our children conform to more of societal expectations - their journey is more defined. But even that thinking is a fallacy. Because our children are not us. We do not create them. They are on loan from God. And we have the wonderful, amazing, terrifying, inspiring task of guiding them as best we can.
1 comment:
You couldn't be more right Amy! My children are better than me, braver than I and will change the world for the better, just like yours. I honestly admire the love and encouragement you give them simply to be themselves ... if only every parent did this, think of how wonderful the world could be.
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