Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Question of the day

I was at work doing work as you should do when you are at work. I work at the church building as a facilities guy and so I get to fix a lot of things and it is much fun. There are some home school enrichment schools that meet here.

I was in the ceiling fixing some air ducts and some of the kids were going to recess and I overheard two of them talking and I quote, "I was so busy this morning, I had so much to do and this was all that I was able to bring." He was talking about the carrots that he had in bag for snack compared to the kid that was with him who had a large bag of pretzels.

I'm not concerned about what they had for snacks, although that could be another whole discussion, but the fact that the kid thought he was completely busy this morning. He may have said it because of the food that he had but I was surprised that a kid about the age of my nephews would think that he was busy. I couldn't understand it.

So here is my question, should we impose our busyness upon our kids? Now I don't have any of my own and I think that I can say that I am honestly busy. Because we can be busy with productive things or with silly things that really don't matter (I'll talk about this in about a week). But should my kids ever think that they are busy in their day? Should we, as adults, give our kids a lifestyle of busyness or a life style of leisure? Where is that middle ground?

2 comments:

Dave Lamb said...

If the kids at school are anything like your nephews, "busy" may be code for "slow."

Kristina said...

I don't think parents should impose their busyness upon their children. I don't think kids should feel like they are busy. Especially if they are as young as the ones you are talking about are. Kids should be able to enjoy being kids. They shouldn't have to worry about being busy. They should be able to just live and enjoy life. However, I don't think that children should have a lifestyle of complete leisure either. They should learn a good work ethic and how to work hard at things, but you only get to be a kid once. I don't see why parents should impose their busyness or hectic schedule on their children. In addition, why are these parents so busy? God says that He gives us enough time each day to accomplish His plans for us for the day. He doesn't say we need to accomplish everything on our to-do list or the never ending things the world and friends throw at us each day. We only have to accomplish what He wants for us to do. There is also a difference between being busy and just having a full day. I feel like when people are busy they are trying to do everything, not just God's plans, but also the plans of the world and also anyone and everyone they come in contact with. Maybe the difference between being busy and having a full day is how you look at what you have to do and what you think about it. Is it a drag, or are you excited about working hard and accomplishing things? God didn’t mean for man to be lazy, but He also didn’t mean for us to run ourselves ragged every day. If the parents have God in mind and look at their day according to His plans, they will probably be less stressed and hectic, in turn, no longer imposing busyness on their children.