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I’ve been thinking about this subject a lot lately. My husband and I have created our home and our rules to suit our temperament. Long ago, we negotiated the brand of peanut butter and the crunchy vs. smooth debates, the mayo vs miracle whip preferences. But just as our tastes were formed by what we grew up with, these choices also form what our kids will see as “normal” or the “right way” to do things.

Talk about performance pressure.

This means my kids probably won’t be big seafood eaters or avid newspaper readers. Why? My husband is allergic to seafood, and I can take or leave it, so it’s not served in the house, and I get my news from online newspapers, while we only get the paper on Sundays.

The boys are big readers – also not a surprise. Our house looks a lot like a library with book cases in most rooms, many overflowing. We view going to the library or book store the way some people go to the mall. The kids are also good travelers, because we like traveling and take them with us on trips, big and small.

They like museums and gardens because my husband and I like those things, and have been dragging the kids to children’s museums, art museums, and science museums since even before they could walk. (It’s probably so people don’t laugh when we play with the Legos, but don’t spread that around… ) We can often be found taking a family stroll at Longwood Gardens, and have been doing that since the oldest was just learning to walk.

All the choices we make to do somethings or not to do others, forms the experience and exposure our kids get to the outside world. It’s how we transmit our family values down to the next generation.

I try to keep that in mind when an opportunity to go to a new place or try a new activity comes up. Even if I’m having one of those “just stay at home” moments, I’ll often decide to stop being resistant and just go and enjoy. You never know when it will turn out to be something special, and it gives my kids an experience they might not have had because I was being, well, a “poop” as we call it in our house- the wet blanket, the party-pooper.

Every once in a while, think about the fact that your choices become your child’s choices, and sometimes, try it because it’s good for them, even if you;re not all that thrilled. You might surprise yourself, too.

[tags]kids, children, parents, adventure, experiences, opportunities, excitement, trust, courage, grace[tags]
Photo graciously provided by WadeB, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved