On and On

I had the best conversation with my kids today. School is out for the summer but I like to keep the learning going on all year long. So over the summer we do a little math, a little science and some other things. Nothing serious, just a little bit to keep their brains tuned up.

So today was history. We did a little review of what we learned last summer so that we can pick up where we left off. They don’t have to take notes, there’s no test, I’ll read a little bit to them and we just talk about it.

I can’t believe how much they retained from last summer. I asked how people first came to America, and my son gives me the whole story about how people from Southern Asia hunted the big stuff like mammoths, and how discovering fire allowed them to hunt further North where it used to be too cold, and then they hunted all the way across that land bridge to North America.

He was so excited to tell the story and so into it. I was so proud. That started a whole conversation about how those people lived their lives. My daughter talked about how they invented the sewing needle from bone and made cloths that fit. And how when we find human bones, from way back then, we usually find dog bones too. So they either had dogs as pets or raised them for food.

Every time she spoke, my son followed it with an encouraging, “so what, who didn’t know that?” I could have done without that, but sitting on the porch and talking with them like that makes me feel so good.

When I read all these other posts, and when I see parents out and about with their babies and toddlers, (as long as the babies and toddlers are cute and not acting like little monsters) it’s hard not to think about when my kids were that age. I loved it. We never had the terrible two’s or the terrible anything. It was all good.

I can’t help but miss all the stuff that parents with young children are experiencing right now. I used to love rocking my kids back and forth when they were babies. And then watching them get the hang of walking and talking, and then listening while they read a book to me all by themselves.

I hear people all the time saying that they wish they had those times back. Sure I miss that stuff, but the good times don’t stop when they can walk and talk and use the bathroom by themselves. My kids are 8 and 10 now , we’re having real conversations, about real things, like religion, and history and race and even a little politics. They’ll always be discovering new things. They’ll always be growing up. Those walking and talking moments, those new discovery moments, they don’t stop. They just discover new stuff, and it’s amazing to see. It just keeps going on and on. I love this job.